


World's End

by Fmfan1980



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Stargate Atlantis, Stargate SG-1
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe, Drama, F/F, F/M, Science Fiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-11
Updated: 2016-07-24
Packaged: 2018-05-26 01:52:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 94,901
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6218896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fmfan1980/pseuds/Fmfan1980
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>At the end of Vegas (SG:Atlantis-s05e19), the Wraith stranded on Earth send a databurst that contained the location of Earth through to every reality. What if it went to a reality where there was no SGC? Just a thought I had while watching the episode 'Vegas'.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own the rights, characters, locations or plots from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Stargate: SG-1, and Stargate Atlantis; they belong to their respective owners without whom this fanfiction would not have been possible. All reviews are welcome.

**Unknown region of space; Pegasus Galaxy; two years ago.**

Realities are a funny thing; one major change could, in one life, create an alternate reality that goes completely differently from how things would have ordinarily run their course. Ordinarily the walls between realities prevent them from interacting with one another; and when the walls do fail for even an instant, events that never would have happened otherwise, would have the possibility of changing the course of history. And put the alternate reality in danger.

As was the case this day.

Eight Wraith hive ships, along with their complement of cruisers and darts were heading for a culling on the world known as Proculus, a world that was only a hyperspace jump away. It was a world that hadn't been touched by the Wraith because the planet was protected by what they believed to be a powerful weapon capable of destroying a fleet of three Hive ships and it's escorts; this time thought, the Wraith hoped that with sheers numbers on their side, the weapon would not work as effectively as it normally does for this armada heading to the planet. The Wraith ships were currently on one of their stopover's since the ships could not stay in hyperspace for long, the radiation in the hyperspace tunnel would damage their organic hulls and the ships needed to stop every so often to regenerate. Once regenerated, which was due to be completed in another hour, the fleet would be on their way to Proculus to feed.

The Wraith on these ships were confident of defeating the weapon this time; they had eight Wraith hive ships, sixteen cruisers, and an untold number of darts that are responsible for culling planets. All that in addition to over a hundred thousand crew members, all Wraith… all creatures with the ability to suck the life forces of their targets through the palm of their hands.

It was while the ships were regenerating that a tear in reality opened and then almost immediately closed. A strong signal had come through, a signal that would get progressively weaker as it shot itself into each and every single reality. It contained a Wraith signal… a message for any Wraith ship that is able to retrieve it.

It had only one single location, and every information needed to be known about that location.

A location that excited the crew of all the gathered ships. They were the only ones that received the message, they were sure of it because there were no signs from the other hive ships within a hundred light years that they ever received anything.

Unknown to them, the only reason they received the message was because they were the closest; and because the signal was the strongest. It could be said that they were the 'neighbouring reality', the first reality to receive the information from whichever reality it originated from.

The Wraith salivated at the information they received.

A new feeding ground.

A feeding ground with the highest number of human beings they have ever seen; more than seven billion lives. Larger than any world in the Pegasus galaxy. And it was all theirs.

The information they received had everything on the planet's defences, what should be attacked first, who should be attacked first. It had everything to make the planet their personal cattle pen. This group of ships were not going to share this information. At least not yet; not until they've had their fill.

It was a few hours later that Hyperspace windows opened up in the emptiness of space; and then these ships zoomed right into them. The ships were going to work together on a plan to get to the new feeding ground. Therese ships were going to go off the grid, away from the other hives while still culling humans. They weren't going to risk Proculus when there was a greater pay off coming.

The Wraith Queen on one of the hive ships then gave an order. No matter what they do from now on, the other Hives were not to know the location of this new feeding ground. Then she ordered three of the hives to head to ten different planets, the locations of some of the Wraith cloning facilities. She wanted her underlings to retrieve some of the power sources that the Wraith had stolen from their greatest enemies, the technologically advanced race that they had fought a hundred year war with and won due to their superior numbers; the Lanteans.

The queen knew that the Hive Ships and the cruisers needed those power sources to even attempt the journey to their new feeding ground. She knew that they'd need time to interface the power sources to the organic nature of the ships.

But she could wait. She wanted to wait.

'Seven billion cattle' thought the queen to herself.

It would take six months to retrieve all the required power sources without the other Hives knowing what they were doing; the Queen knew that by the time the other Hive queens suspected anything, her armada would be gone. It would take another one and a half years for all of this queen's scientists to recalibrate their organic ships to the new power sources.

Once the power sources were stable. The Queen gave her go ahead. Multiple hyperspace windows opened up over the last world they would cull in Pegasus before the Wraith ships flew through the windows.

After nearly two years of preparing their ships, this Queen's armada was heading for their latest feeding ground.

A planet called Earth.

**San Francisco, Dawn's Room, 0900 hours; two years later.**

It's been nearly eleven months before magic was returned to the Earth. Dawn wasn't exactly sure of what happened in the Deeper Well, just that whatever Buffy and the others had done worked. Sitting up on her bed while just wearing a tank top and shorts, the young woman rubbed her face with her hands while stifling a yawn before she just sat and looked down at the floor, and then glanced at the left side of her bed.. the same side that she remembered Xander used to sleep on.

Dawn knew that since the end of magic nearly a year ago, she and Xander were in a relationship; she remembered loving the man deeply; they connected over being the ones who were on the outside looking in while all their friends had powers. She remembered that he was always there for her and that their courtship began during the Twilight crisis. Then after magic was cut off from Earth because of her sister destroying the Seed of Wonder, the magic that held Dawn together slowly dissipated.

As Dawn sat on her bed, she remembered slowly losing her body; her grip on her memories of her sister, Xander, Willow, Spike… she recalled losing the memories of everyone she loved. Buffy would later tell Dawn that she and Willow started losing memories of her as well; that she and Willow would lose memories of Dawn… but they still pushed through in the Deeper Well to save her life.

"I knew I loved you, that's what made me and Willow keep going" Buffy had told Dawn after she returned from England, after Willow used the returned magic to bring Dawn's body back. Dawn recalled hugging Buffy tightly that day while in the present day, she got off the bed and then walked into the attached rest room. But the downside of Dawn's new body was that her emotions were reset; Dawn felt as if she just lost Joyce Summers to an aneurysm even though she knew that the older blonde died years ago, she had also lost the love she had for Xander.. instead it was replaced by that crush she had for the young man when they lived in Sunnydale before it became a crater and a tourist attraction.

She told Buffy about what she remembered about Joyce, that her feelings were reset. She also told Xander that her feelings had changed. Her heart broke when the man she knew she used to have genuine love for, looked at her with a downcast face; but she couldn't do anything. She didn't have those feelings anymore… the both of them tried to go on a couple of dates but the spark between them just wasn't there.

There was one thing however, that Dawn couldn't tell anyone. She walked into the restroom and washed her face before she looked up at the mirror when she remembered what she had seen when her body was failing her; when the body that the monks made to house the Key was failing her.

"A city of towers" whispered Dawn to herself, "I saw a city of towers."

She could remember the towers of a strange city she knew she had never seen before. Images flooded her mind when the magic holding her body together was unravelling; she heard a scream in her mind… a scream calling for someone.. a scream that felt like it was coming from her very soul.

"Athena" whispered Dawn as she looked at her reflection, "who's Athena?"

Dawn then closed her eyes as she recalled the screams.

"Help me Athena! Please Help! The Pain! Mother! Help!"

Dawn then opened her eyes and washed her face again. She recognized the voice, it was her own… but she remembered that her mouth wasn't moving. She remembered that Spike didn't say anything, neither did Andrew who was with her. As she took off her top after brushing her teeth, Dawn remembered she saw herself as little girl running through hallways… strange panelled hallways. She would follow the little girl until they came to a junction. She'd then see a shadow on the left hallway with the little girl laughing. She would then run after the girl who was shouting for Athena; Dawn would then look up but see no-one there in the hallway. She would then look around and found that the girl was gone too.

Dawn remembered that when she couldn't feel anything while sitting on the couch in the living room with Spike, when she saw her own hand vanishing while Spike looked on helplessly; she saw herself in a dark hallway. She didn't know where she was but she could hear screams coming from the end of the hallway, followed by a voice.

"Athena" said the voice as Dawn opened her eyes wide and began to run as fast as she could down the hallway, "sister, listen to me."

"No.. no…" Dawn recalled saying in her dream which was interlaced with images of her hugging Buffy, of playing with Joyce, and then being in the arms of a man she never met, and looking at what looked like a hologram of a red haired woman while holding the hand of a redheaded little girl. She then saw herself facing Ben and Glory, she saw Buffy's jump from the tower when the blonde Slayer sacrificed her life to save her sister. Then she had other images; she saw herself looking at Willow, she saw the same red-haired woman as the hologram holding on to the sides of Willow's head. Dawn remembered watching Willow starting to glow. That image was then interlaced with more images from her life with the Scoobies before she found herself at the end of the dark tunnel.

Back in her room, Dawn pulled on her shirt while she recalled seeing Willow stuck in what looked like a pod. Dawn remembered that the redhead was screaming while looking to her right side. Dawn looked at what the redhead was looking at and almost had a heart attack. She saw a red haired pale figure pull her hand back while Willow was screaming at her to stop.

"Goodbye"

Dawn walked around the pale figure to see someone who looked like herself crying. Dawn, the former Key, watched as the figure opened her eyes wide as the pale figure smashed her palm in the chest of the girl who looked just like. She heard the Willow look-a-like scream as Dawn saw herself being turned into a husk.

And then she was back. Dawn remembered finding herself in the living room behind the Scoobies after Willow had used the magic that returned to Earth to bring her back into a new body. The redhead had redone the powerful spell that the Order of Dagon had carried out years ago to create her. Dawn asked what was going on when the Scoobies, who initially thought that Willow's spell didn't work, turned around in surprise and hugged her.

"You're back" Dawn remembered Buffy whispering into her ear.

"Hey Dawnie" said Willow as she hugged the brunette tight. Dawn placed her hand on the back of Willow's head and recalled the screaming redhead in her dream. Dawn remembered the tears in the redhead's eyes, combined with the look of rage, the look of anger and hate in those same eyes. She pushed those memories of dreams to the back of her head and started to restart her life again. She didn't tell anyone about those dreams since she knew they'd think she was nuts.

'Even with what we face' thought Dawn to herself as she put on her jeans just as there was an excited knock on the door.

"Hey, Lil'bit" said Spike from behind the door, "get out here.. you gotta see this."

"Coming!" shouted Dawn as she brushed her hair.

"Dawn" said Buffy as she pushed open the door and pulled her sister, who was enraged at the intrusion of her privacy, out to the living room where everyone was looking at the television.

"What?!" shouted Dawn as she looked at her sister who was looking at the TV, "Buff… you can't just…"

"Dawnie" said Willow, who was standing next to her, as she turned Dawn towards the television while Spike, Andrew, Xander and the other Scoobies stood transfixed at the breaking news; burning oil fields, destroyed gas refineries, and smoking military bases… some of which looked like craters.

"What's going on?" asked Dawn as the image on the television changed to show an image of what looked like alien ships in orbit.

"We have had NORAD confirm that….." the reporter on the screen just as there was a bright flash of light, followed by nothingness… just picture snow.

Dawn saw the screen suddenly go off before the Scoobies looked at each other concerned. It was then that they heard the sound of thunder as the ground shook around them. The group ran to the windows and looked out of the apartment. They could hear people screaming in terror, followed by explosions in the distance.

"Oh Goddess" said Willow as she looked up at the sky, as did the others.

"No way" said Buffy in shock as she looked up and her eyes opened wide to see numerous blue bolts of plasma falling through the Earth's atmosphere.

"Willow" said Buffy as the redhead looked at her best friend who was still looking up at the sky with her arms trembling, "contact all the Slayers… telepathically, magically… contact them all. We need everyone on hand and…."

"Oh God, get down!" said Spike as he pushed everyone down onto the floor after a few plasma bolt hit nearby and caused numerous explosions. He covered Dawn and got onto the floor while Buffy covered Willow by pushing her onto the floor, with the others in the apartment jumping behind the couch as the windows were blown into the apartment; sharp shards of glass heading everywhere.

"Call them" whispered Buffy who was lying on top of Willow's back, "Will… call…"

"Li'Bit?" said Spike as he slowly got up while hearing more explosions in the distance, "you ok?"

"Yeah" said Dawn coughing, "Andrew? Xander? Everyone?"

"We're ok" said Xander as he helped Andrew stand up before running to Buffy who was bleeding from a head wound, "Buffy!"

"Buffy?" asked Dawn as she looked at her sister who Willow slowly turned to her back and started a healing spell to slowly heal the wound.

"She's gonna be alright" said Spike as he helped Dawn stand up after which he pulled out the glass shard the impaled his shoulder with a slight grimace, "her breathings ok.. and her heart's beating. Red's gonna fix 'er up."

"What the…" said Xander when he heard buzzing sounds and ran to the window.

None of them noticed Dawn looking worried at the buzzing sounds as she held her head in her hands.

"Call…. Call… everyone" said Dawn as she fell on her knees while holding onto the sides of her head, "Will…. Slayers, Faith, Angel… Vampires… everyone… call Deepscan. I… it.. it's the…. My head… Buffy."

"Dawnie" said Xander as he kneeled down and gently grabbed her cheeks, "Buffy's gonna be alright and…."

"No" said Dawn while she rubbed her head, "it was always… oh God… we're dead. All of us."

Andrew and Xander just looked at each other before he looked at Spike worried.

"I… how do I know.. why do I know" said Dawn as she closed her eyes and started to rock back and forth, "I… I can't know… why do I know…?"

"Dawnie" said Willow as she looked at the brunette while continuing to heal Buffy, "there was an explosion and.. and I think you may have had a concussion or…"

"The Wraith" said Dawn with fear in her eyes as she looked at Xander, and then Willow, and then at Spike, "we're dead… we're all dead."

TBC

 


	2. Chapter 2

**San Francisco, the Summers Apartment, 0920 hours.**

Dawn could feel fear grab her heart when she said that word out loud, she could feel sick just thinking about that word while she was looking into Xander's eyes. She feared for them.. she feared for all of them but she didn't know why. Dawn didn't know how she knew that name, or why she knew that name. Just that she did, and that name made her soul shake in fear.

"The Wraith" said Dawn again as she looked at Xander, "The Wraith are here…. they… I don't know, Xander."

"Shh" said Xander as he caressed Dawn's cheeks, "it's ok. I think the blast must have…."

"This isn't a concussion and.." said Dawn when she heard a groan coming from Buffy.

"Dawnie?" said Buffy softly.

Dawn looked at her sister whose face was reflecting the orange light coming out of Willow's hands; Dawn could see that Buffy was still lying down as her eyes slowly flickered open while the wound on teh side of her head slowly closed. The brunette then looked at Xander before she quickly crawled over to her sister while Spike and Andrew looked out the window.

"Looks like we've got our guys fighting some weird alien plane thingys" said Spike as Xander and Andrew ran over to the window and saw Earth jets in dogfights over the city against the alien craft, small ships that looked like arrows which were making the buzzing sounds against a backdrop of more plasma blasts falling to Earth in the distance. Spike and Xander were watching the alien ships destroy some of the Earth jets and vice versa. In the meantime, Andrew was looking out another window and saw six other alien planes buzz low over the city before they activated some sort of a beam over people who were running all over the place in terror.

"Oh great Scotty" said Andrew with his eyes wide open as numerous people just vanished when the beams washed over them.

"Guys!" shouted Andrew as he looked back at the others and pointed at the sky, "they.. they're taking people for experiments and…."

"No" said Dawn as she kneeled over Buffy and held the Slayer's hand while Willow continued to heal the blonde Slayer, "I… don't understand how I know but… oh God, all I know is that they're not here to experiment."

"Dawnie" said Willow as she looked up at the brunette, "how do you know and…"

"I don't know" said a frustrated Dawn, "I.. I've had dreams and… when my body was disappearing and after you brought me back and… and I don't know, Willow. I don't know…"

"Oh boy" said Xander who was looking at Dawn from the window when Spike tapped on his shoulder and turned him to look out the window just in time to see seven of the alien ships buzz low over a group of terrified people who were trying to run to shelter before activating their beam again. This time they didn't beam up people, instead they saw four aliens from each craft appear before the small craft went back up into the air and continued their fights with the Earth jets.

"I'm going down there" said Spike when he saw the aliens heading into the already darkened nearby apartment buildings, including their own, and stores while shooting nearby humans with some kinda of an energy weapon, "they're…"

It was then that they heard the sounds of crashes coming from their building followed by screams from residents below. It was then that Xander, Andrew, and Spike got into action and then headed for the front door with axes and swords in hand, all taken from Buffy's room. Dawn looked back at Xander and her heart beat faster than ever before as she imagined the worst case scenarios happening to him..

"Xander" said Dawn as the young man looked back at her, "don't go.. don't…"

"I'll be ok, Dawn" said Xander as he opened the door and rushed out with Spike and Andrew, who was also carrying a Captain America replica shield in his left hand along with his sword.

Dawn looked at the door worriedly and then looked at Willow again, and then back at Buffy who was looking back at her and smiling. Dawn then looked back at the open door before looking at the door to Buffy's room; everything around them was shrouded in darkness since the explosion that shattered the windows.

"Buffy" said Dawn as she looked at her sister, "you're gonna be ok. We need you to be ok. Please be ok… and…"

"Father"

Dawn saw everyone, and the apartment itself, melting away when she heard the buzz of the alien ships flying overhead again. This time she saw herself in a cream and silver white dress walking in a dimly lit room with her hands being held together. She followed her copy, staying a few steps back, when she stopped and crouched in front of a bald man who was sitting on the side of a bed with a picture frame in his hand.

"Father" said the woman as Dawn looked on confused at what was happening to her, "I am here. I need for you to live… I need for you and Athena to live. Keep her in the light, please.. I…"

Dawn saw her copy abruptly stop talking before quickly standing up and then turning around as if she was looking right at her with her eye brows furrowed.

"Athena."

Everything around Dawn then melted away as the brunette looked around with a look of fear in her eyes, a fear that she was going insane. She then found herself in a lab looking at her copy, when she suddenly ducked after hearing an anguished scream from behind her. Dawn turned to see, from behind the arms that were covering her face, a long haired Willow screaming while she smashed glass onto the floor. Dawn saw her throw test tubes of blue, red, and green liquids against the wall before she started to break equipment in anger. Lowering her hands slowly when there was a lull, Dawn saw her copy walking towards the redhead as she leaned against the wall and started to sob while she fell down onto the floor while keeping her legs out wide and her hands covering her eyes, her body wracked with sobs.

"Willow?" asked Dawn as she approached the redhead while her copy was crouching down in front of her.

"Shhh" said the copy as she reached out to the redhead and, then suddenly pulled her hand back, "I am alive as can be, Athena."

"Athena?" asked Dawn.

"Stay in the light, Athena" said Dawn's copy to the redhead who was still sobbing uncontrollably, "you promised you will stay in the light. I told you I will always be here for you and…."

"I…. I… cannot keep that promise" said the redhead as Dawn stepped forward and the copy lowered her head and closed her eyes. Dawn saw that the copy of Willow was struggling to breath while she wiped her eyes and then put her hands limply by her side and looked downwards… as if she couldn't see the young woman crouching in front of her. Dawn saw the redhead take a few deep breaths to calm herself down before she started talking to herself.

"You're gone…. They killed you" said the redhead while Dawn's eyes opened wide in surprise, "they took you away from me. You were my light, and… and it is now gone. I promised you that I would continue to search for the cure while you were by my side, but you are no longer by my side; all I see now is darkness ahead. I want that race dead, I will do what I can to ensure that entire race falls. I will have vengeance for you, Hera… I will avenge you."

"Hera?" said Dawn as everything around her melted away again; the room, the Willow look-a-like, and the woman in the cream and silver dress; it all ended with Dawn finding herself looking at a concerned Buffy, and then she looked up to see an equally concerned Willow.

"Dawnie? You spaced out for a second there" said Willow as she looked back down at Buffy, and then up at Dawn again, "I'll magically examine you after I'm done with Buffy and… and why are you looking at me like that?"

"Huh?" asked Dawn confused while shaking her head.

"Dawnie" said Willow, "I know I'm kinda hot but you just broke up with Xander, and I'll be just a rebound girl and…."

"Ewww" said Buffy as she glared at Willow, "ewww… ewww… ewww."

"I mean I don't mind there being a you and me" said Willow shrugging her shoulders, "I'm sure that…".

"Ewwwww" said Buffy while Dawn still looked at the two woman in front of her confused.

Willow laughed while Buffy and Dawn just looked at each other, the blonde Slayer eventually laughing as well… but stopped when she said she was getting a little dizzy.

"Give me a minute, Buff" said Willow while she was laughing.

In the meantime, Spike, Xander, and Andrew walked slowly down the stairs while hearing screams and crashes from below. It was when they were on the third floor when the two humans suddenly stopped and looked around.

"What was that?" whispered Andrew as he looked behind them over the last step to the third floor, "I thought I…"

"Shhh" said Spike as he looked down and saw four shadows running up to the second floor. They were now at the staircase landing between the second and the third floors when they crouched down and saw three large aliens with armour and wearing masks as well as carrying what seemed to be pointed spears, being led by a long haired and pale alien creature wearing what looked like a long black leather jacket.

"They don't look like vulcans" whispered Andrew just as Xander looked back and whispered at him to keep quiet.

"Ponce" said Spike as the four aliens stopped. He motioned for the others to step back while the alien in the long coat made some motions with his hands. Spike noticed the body language of the masked aliens changed after the signal from the one who seemed to be the leader. Spike then signalled Xander and Andrew to run up the stairs to the third floor just as the three masked aliens turned around and raised their weapons, firing off shots at Andrew and Xander who were just missed.. but the shots hit Spike who was just pushed back but otherwise unharmed. In the mean time, the one with a jacket kicked a door open and walked in. Spike heard screams and crashes from inside the apartment just as the masked aliens started firing on him again.

The ensouled vampire then activated his 'vamp face' and ran to the end of the landing and jumped while growling towards the three aliens. He punched one using all his strength; pushing it back slightly before it regained balance and then punched Spike hard as he doubled over, and then the alien slammed his fists into the vampire's back making him crash onto the floor. However, all Spike did was laugh in enjoyment as he stood up again much to the surprise of the aliens.

"Come on then" he said before snarling as he attacked one of them viciously while two of them ran past him. However, he managed to catch the second one by his arm and then pulled him back and crashed him into the one he was fighting.

"Harris!" shouted Spike as the two aliens got up and rushed at him together, "one's coming after…. Fuck!"

If Spike could lose his breathe, it would have happened when the two aliens crashed into him, making the three of them fall down the stairs to the first floor. While Spike was getting up again on the first floor before trading hard blows with the masked aliens… Xander and Andrew were facing off with the remaining masked alien who aimed his weapon while Andrew pulled back his hand and threw the shield her was holding.

"Fly true!" shouted Andrew as the shield smoothly flew past the Wraith and only succeeded in bouncing off the steps that led to the landing between the third and the fourth floors.

"Oh come on!" shouted Andrew as Xander rushed past him while the alien was looking at the shield, and then turned around before bringing up his weapon with two hands to block the axe that Xander was swung at him. Xander should hear the sounds of fists hitting flesh from the first floor, as well of the sounds of more screaming from the second floor.

Meanwhile on the third floor, Andrew rushed to Xander's side and swung the sword he was holding. However, the alien pushed away Xander who was flung against a wall before he fell onto the floor with his axe clattering to his right. He slowly got up and looked through his one eye to see Andrew swinging his sword while the alien was blocking his hits with the weapon… as if he was just playing with the young man. Xander then quickly got up and grabbed the axe before telling Andrew to duck. He swung the axe that the alien used his weapon to block, and then Xander told the other young man to swing his sword at the alien's hand.

The young man, who used to be one of the members of the Trio, swung his sword as hard as he could… with the alien dropping the weapon as it howled in pain after the sword was embedded in its arm bone. Xander then quickly dropped the axe and picked up the alien weapon just as he was punched by the alien and thrown backwards. He then rolled on the floor before he stopped and groaned before looking at Andrew who the alien had punched with its other hand.

"Andrew!" shouted Xander as he tried to get up as fast as he could while the alien grabbed Andrew, who was bleeding from his face because of the alien's punch. Xander saw the spear shaped weapon to his left and went to pick it up just as the alien smashed the screaming Andrew against the wall and pulled it's arm back. Xander screamed as he picked up the weapon while the alien smashed it's hand onto Andrew's chest. Time stopped for Xander as he ran the short distance, while pulling back the sharp end of the spear back; he couldn't see what was happening to Andrew, all he could see was the head of the masked alien as he pierced the side of its head. Time returned to normal as the creature howled in pain and stepped back… pulling its hand off Andrews chest who fell onto the floor. Xander didn't look back, he had no time to look back at Andrew as he felt the buttons at the end of the spear and pointed the weapon at the alien before he pressed each button one by one… each button releasing a different sized energy blast. HE fired two more times at what he thought was the highest setting before the alien fell onto the floor.

Panting, the man then dropped the weapon before he turned and ran to Andrew.

And he was shocked at what he saw.

Where there was one a man at the prime of his life, now was left someone much older with wisps of grey, in an otherwises dark brown head of hair.

"Andrew?" asked Xander as he sat the man up, "Andrew?"

"Xan…. Xadner" said Andrew, "so… so… weak. I…"

"It's ok, buddy… I…"

"Be… Behind"

"What?" asked Xander as he looked behind him and saw the alien who was wearing the dark jacket.

"Fear us" said the alien, as it picked up Xander by his collar and then slammed him against the adjacent wall and smiled as he fell onto the floor, "fear tastes delicious."

'Yea?" asked Xander as she groaned before trying get up again, "I hope you choke."

The alien smiled as it punched Xander again before picking him up and slamming him against the wall. Xander then spit at the alien whose grin became wider.

"Such spirit" said the alien as it looked at Xander before punching him again. The alien then pulled Xander up while blood was coming down the side of the young man's mouth before standing him against the wall again, "you will make a fine runner. As will many of these cattle."

"Get away from him!" shouted a voice as the alien looked to his left and saw a red blast flying towards him, flinging him away from Xander. Looking up while he stood up again after hitting the floor hard in the darkened hallway, the alien saw a redheaded woman flying down to the third floor with energy crackling on her hands and body. Behind her was another young woman carrying a weapon with a curved blade, and behind the two of them was another young woman carrying a sword.

Dawn looked at the alien and then had a memory flash of the dark room once again. She saw a being just like him in the same room where her look-a-like was being held.

"You… you" said Dawn as her hands shook, "Wraith."

"Yes" said the Wraith as he smiled and looked at Buffy, Willow, and then at Xander and the still immobile Andrew. He then looked at Willow and tilted his head before looking at Buffy, "I smell fear from…"

"Shut up" said Willow as she stepped forward and the Wraith looked at her.

Buffy and the others saw Willow suddenly stop moving; the redhead could feel the Wraith in her mind as it was commanding her to stop… as it searched for her secrets before it commanded her to kneel. Willow tried to block the Wraith's telepathic attack while Buffy screamed before running forward and swinging the Scythe, the Wraith ducking and avoiding the swings while still invading Willow's mind.

"You… you won't stop me" said Willow as she used all her powers to push back the mind probe before she magically pushed the Wraith away from Buffy, and flung him through the hallway until he landed on the floor some distance away.

"I have already notified the others of your gifts" said the Wraith as he stood up again, "but I will still feed on you."

Willow and the others, who were looking into the hall, suddenly saw the Wraith vanish before the redhead felt someone pushing her to one side. Landing on the steps of the staircase behind her, she looked up to see a badly bleeding and beaten Spike holding the Wraith off while shouting at the others and demanding to know why they let the alien get past them to Willow.

"Slayer!" shouted Spike as Buffy came to her senses before she swing the scythe and then buried the blade deep into the Wraith's back, "Again!"

Spike held on tight to the Wraith while growing as Buffy hacked at the alien who used the last bit of his strength to push away Spike hard. The vampire fell down the stairs to the landing in between floors as the Wraith turned around and grabbed the Scythe which Buffy was swinging down again.

"I have already fed" said the Wraith as Willow looked at the blood from the Wraith's injuries stop flowing, before the cuts healed themselves. The redhead then slowly got up as the Wraith held on to the hand that held the Scythe, and then grabbed Buffy's throat after taking a punch from her before slamming her onto the wall, "the male I chose as a runner, perhaps it should be you and…"

"Buffy!" shouted Willow as she quickly got up and gathered magical energy while whispering a spell. She put her hands up just as the Wraith threw Buffy into Willow, and the two fell onto the stairs unconscious.

"Dawn" said Xander softly as he tried to get up while looking at the shaking young woman, "run."

"Stay" said the Wraith as he looked at Dawn. The brunette knew that she wanted to move, but her muscles won't follow her command. Dawn willed herself to at least swing the sword but she couldn't lift her arm just as a mental command ordered her to drop the weapon.

And she did.

Dawn could hear explosions outside, as well as screams and the sounds of jet engines; but all she could do was walk towards the Wraith down the stairs. As she was going down the stairs, she glanced at a bleeding Spike who had his human face on, groaning while slowly getting up.

"You have heard of us" said the Wraith as the alien brushed his pale fingers on Dawn's cheek after she stopped in front of him. Dawn could see Xander was struggling to move while eyes the golden coloured alien spear that was located a few feet away.

"Dawn" said Spike from behind her on the landing below her. She knew that the whole area was chaotic.. she could hear Buffy and Willow groaning.. she could see that Andrew was out, and Xander was slowly getting up behind the Wraith while trying to make his way to the weapon.. but falling to the floor at the first attempt.

"You are…. Yes…" said the Wraith as he looked at Dawn's facial features, "I remember that day; I was the one that pulled you out of the Gateship."

"Get away from her!" shouted Xander as he leaned back against the wall before he went to reach for the closer axe…. His mind still dizzy from the last punch, "Buffy! Willow!"

The Wraith looked back at Xander, and knew that the threat from him was minimal for now.. that he had a more interesting feast planned as he turned to look at Dawn again.

"I… I… don't" said Dawn while the Wraith caressed her cheeks, her neck, and then near her collarbone, "I…"

"You should have died, Lantean" said the Wraith as Dawn's eyes went wide, "such a pleasure finding you on this backward world. Now I have the pleasure of feeding on you… a member of that pompous race."

"Stay… Stay away" said Dawn as the Wraith pulled his hand back, "Buffy!"

"Farewell, Lantean" said the Wraith as Dawn screamed.

The Wraith pushed his hand towards Dawn's chest when it suddenly stopped; he felt coils going around his arm… something slithering as it squeezed tight. He then looked at the redhead who was panting hard while her eyes were jet back as his hand snapped into two. He then saw the blonde slowly get up while his leg bones were shattered as he fell onto the floor.

But all the while, the Wraith was looking at Dawn intently… and then released his telepathic hold on her before she stepped back.

"We are here, Lantean" said the Wraith who continued to look at Dawn as Willow got up while Buffy picked up the Scythe again and looked on as what looked like blood was coming out of the Wraith's eyes, "you hide among these primitives; but without technology… you have nothing. The great Lanteans will fall once again."

"Just die" hissed Willow through clenched teeth as she gathered more magical energy.

"We will feed" said the Wraith looking at Dawn, "we are here. You lost the war, you will lose this world… the high and mighty Lanteans."

The Wraith then started laughing as it looked at Dawn; the laughing only stopped when Willow closed her fist and the Wraith turned into a ball of goo before falling onto the carpet with a plop.

Willow continued to feel dizzy as she sat back down on the steps; she was still feeling the effects of the Wraith throwing Buffy into her.. and then the both of them falling on the staircase.

"Will?" asked Buffy as she kneeled next to her best friend who was wiping her nose while Spike was limping as he walked up the stairs and approached Xander, putting his arms around the one eyed man's shoulders before helping him to the stairs and sitting him down while Dawn was still shaking.

"Andrew" said Buffy as she ran down to the formerly young man; the blonde Slayer looked in shock at his state right now, "oh my God."

"Sleepy, Buffy" said Andrew as he leaned back against the wall, "I feel so weak."

"Dawn" said Spike as he put his arms on the brunette's shoulders, "Lil'bit, are you ok?"

"I…. I…" said Dawn shaking her head, "I…."

"Dawn?" said Willow, "what did he mean where he called you Lantean. What is that and…?"

"Dawn?" asked Buffy as she looked at her sister while patting Andrew's shoulder.

"They.. they're called Wraith and…." said Dawn, "I don't know how I know.. or.. or why I know but… Oh God, Buffy… what's wrong with me? I… have been having dreams since… since I was brought back and… and I saw someone like me dying at the hands of these things and… and Willow was there and… and help me."

TBC

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Outside present day Nairobi, Kenya; ten thousand years ago.**

Hera looked on, while remaining imperceptible to the people around her, including Athena, and the Furling priests who had come to Athena's home months after what remained of the redhead's people returned to Earth from Atlantis. Hera watched Athena speaking to the Furlings priest before looking at the scared dark skinned girl who was holding onto tight to Athena's hand. The brunette looked at how tight Athena was holding on to the young girl in return, and smiled.

'You will protect her' thought Hera to herself while she listened to the Furlings say that the girl, Sineya, had a very important destiny in store for her; that she couldn't escape it, nor can she hide from it. The ascended brunette continue to listen as Athena told them that instead of using Sineya to fullfill the prophecy of the Power that Be's Slayer who would fight evil and the encroaching darkness; the redhead told the Furling priests about her proposal on creating living weapons that would eradicate the Wraith when she lived on Atlantis. Weapons that would have destroyed the Wraith threat, and then once they were eradicated from the galaxy, the genetically wired remote detonators in their genetic code would activate kill each and every one of the living weapons so that they don't rise up against the Lanteans, like the replicators had done. Hera listened as Athena told the Furlings that she would be giving the weapons, genetically engineered clones, free will to decide if they wanted to fight for the Furlings before telling the Furlings that in simulations, the weapons had a ninety-nine percent kill rate.

Hera heard Athena describing to the Furlings that the weapons would have enhanced abilities such as superhuman strength, speed, reflexes, stamina, agility, durability, accelerated healing, and genetic knowledge of all forms of armed and unarmed combat. Hera heard the Furlings whisper among themselves while watching Athena telling the girl, through rudimentary sign language to teach her the language, and the redhead would teach the primitive human the Lantean language. When Sineya nodded her head, the Furlings turned to look at Athena and told her that they would need thirty thousand clones and then asked what Athena would like as payment. As payment, Athena demanded that they leave Sineya alone; that the clones she was providing them would do what the Furlings wanted to do.. at least those who they could convince to fight.

The clones would have been all they needed; a race of genetically engineered super soldiers bred to kill monsters.

Hera was there when the Furlings agreed with Athena's terms before they walked away. She saw Athena walk back with Athena to her home that was right behind them, before the brunette followed the Furlings. She listened in as the head priest, Zan, told his compatriots that Athena was a fool. One of the others priests then confirmed what Zan was thinking, that he wanted the demon they tamed to be fuelled by the weapons that Athena was going to provide; the end result being a demon that was more powerful than they ever imagine being under their control.

"The ultimate weapon," Zan had said as they walked away.

Hera stopped following the priests and just stood in silent sadness.

'My sister,' thought Hera to herself as she looked back at Athena's home, 'to save the life of one, you have condemned thirty thousand to their deaths.'

Hera watched as, over the next five years, the redhead and Sineya had gotten very close; close enough for the dark skinned young girl to call the redhead 'mother' and Athena would call Sineya her 'daughter'. Hera also watched the Furlings take the clones that Athena would beam over to them at a set of pre-agreed coordinates; after they were beamed in.. the Furlings would put a spell on them and bring them inside a cave. There, Hera saw the Furlings release the thing they dubbed the Shadow Demon before it passed through each screaming clone. She could sense its power growing as it took the life of each clone it passed through.

'I am sorry, Athena,' thought Hera to herself as her body trembled while one clone fell on the floor dead, followed by another one.. and then another one. Eventually, all the clones were dead and Hera had followed some of the Furlings to Sineya's village where she was living with her grandmother. She looked on in anger as the Furlings took Sineya away; the young girl screaming for help while her grandmother stood there. Hera had stayed silently by Sineya's side the whole time the Furlings were conducting their ritual to prepare Sineya for the implantation of the demon within her.

Hera knew that Athena had to deliver one final batch, so she quickly went to the cloning tanks and looked at the clones that were fast asleep. She knew that all of them would die, but there was nothing she could do. She'd be punished if she did anything; all she could do in the cavern underneath the outpost was scream at her helplessness. She stopped screaming when she sensed something, some of the remaining clones seemed to have a genetic problem that would take some time to repair. So Athena had held those thousand clones back and started a repair sequence on their DNA. Hera could feel the power of the demon from where she was, it was too great.. she knew that even if the Shadow Men changed their minds.. there was nothing they could do; Sineya was going to be a sacrifice.

"I am sorry, Athena," said Hera to herself as she stood in the darkness of the now empty cavern beneath the outpost, "you must say your goodbyes to Sineya."

Hera went to Athena who was in her lab in the underground outpost, staying hidden from her, and called to her in Sineya's voice. She saw Athena transport herself to the surface before boarding her Gateship to a cave.

It was minutes later that Hera saw the Furlings knock Athena unconscious after she was made to witness the final batch of clones die; she saw as the redhead was knocked out and then dragged to a large cavern and chained to a wall… a witness to the forging of a new weapon.

Zan told Athena when she came to what the Furlings, one of their mystical sects, had done; that the Shadow Demon they tamed from the dark dimensions was already powerful, but the infusion of power from her living weapons brought it's power to a level they could not imagine.

"She is innocent!" shouted Athena at Zan as Hera looked at her sister from above, "you are forcing a prophesy on an innocent, is that what your Power's would want!"

"The women will be much easier to train," Zan had said while all Hera could do was look at the anguish on her sister's face, and then turned to looked at Sineya, "they would be much easier to control, that is what we wish."

Then it began.

Hera saw the demon coming out of the box it was contained in, and then once it was out, it was preparing itself to strike at Sineya. The Ascended being then made herself known to only Sineya in a small bubble of time; from Sineya's view.. everything had stopped for just a moment. Hera approached Sineya telling her that while she couldn't do anything to prevent what was about to happen, she made a promise to ascend Sineya when the time came. Hera then watched Sineya get taken over by the demon as the cavern started to shake… a cave in began, she saw the changed Sineya take Athena away after she was knocked out by falling debris.

She was there by Athena's side when she was catatonic after the deaths of all the clones, all the living beings she had given the Furlings, and the loss of Sineya. Hera was there when Athena admitted what she did to the Lantean Council after her crimes of genocide were discovered. She told the Council, who had initially told Athena not to create the clones, what she did.. and why she did it.

"It was all to protect Sineya," said Athena.

Hera was there when the Council passed a sentence of exile from Earth for ten years. She could only look on in sadness as her sister willingly accepted her punishment; then before she left the planet for Kheb, Athena had gone to the other outposts that were used for her research along with Melia. They destroyed everything inside those outposts so that those experiments could never be carried out again, so that weapons of war created using advanced technology wouldn't be accidentally found by primitive man. Hera saw Athena destroy all the chips, data crystals… the redhead's life's work on eradicating the Wraith were all destroyed by her own hands.

Hera sensed that Athena was relieved when everything she had done was destroyed… all the data corrupted. However, before everything was destroyed… Athena asked for and received permission for the creation of two weapons. Two gifts for Sineya; which were approved by the Council, and their creation watched over by Melia.

The design was elegant.

Hera remembered training with similar weapons back on Atlantis since she was one of the lead anthropologists in the city, and she… in fact anyone who did the majority of their work off-world were given intensive training on hand to hand and armed combat. Hera watched the redhead create two long metallic handles, then at the end of each handle was a long, solid, wooden stake and followed by a curved blade that shone silver as they were attached to each of the long handles. Hera listened while Athena told Melia that she infused the two weapons with Naquada, that the element will collect and enhance any energy that Sineya came across; that there were nanites on the blade that, at a command, would keep the blade razor sharp.. sharp enough to cut through the toughest hide or armour.

'The ultimate weapon, for the ultimate warrior,' thought Hera to herself.

Then after Athena handed the weapons to Sineya who then proceeded to Slay the demons she was fighting with unbelievable ease, Athena left for Kheb where she met her sister once again and began training for Ascension with Oma Desala.

It was decades later that Hera saw Sineya again; this time was at the end of a massive battle where the ground itself had turned red with blood near the site of the first Gateway, the doorway that was opened by both Ancients and Furlings to find a cure to the Ancient plague before leaving for Pegasus in Atlantis. It was the end result of a massive battle between the most powerful Slayer in existence against an army of thirty demons and a dragon. Hera was with Athena who just returned to Earth from Kheb, the redhead had a dream that Sineya fell in battle.. and she rushed back hoping to change the outcome; but she was too late.

Sineya already suffered a fatal wound; a gaping hole in her chest. Once of the weapons was broken and lay next to the Slayer, while the other one lay next on Sineya's left side still intact.

Hera stood by Athena who held Sineya's hands in hers, the redhead begging Hera to heal the First Slayer.

"I am here to fulfill a promise," said Hera as she reached out to Sineya with her right hand, "ascension."

Hera was surprised when Sineya refused ascension, the Slayer told Athena and her that she wanted to remain… she wanted to guide the ones who came after her. She told the two sisters that she could see them all; she could see the Potentials… she could see the Chosen, that she needed to guide them when they needed it.

Hera watched Athena holding on to Sineya's bloody body after she breathed her last breath. The brunette put a hand on the redhead's shoulder telling her that Sineya made her choice, that she felt it would be best that she was the ones to guide the next Slayer. It was then that the brunette and Athena watched in surprise as Sineya's body rose into the air; as it continued to rise, Athena stood up and stepped back until she and Hera were standing side by side. They then watched eight bright blue lights shooting out from Sineya's body in all ordinal and cardinal directions; it was Hera who could sense it as she closed her eyes… the lines of light that Sineya had referred to as the Slayer Lines before she died was travelling around and through the Earth itself, powered by the combination of the demon and the energy that was taken from the living weapons; she could feel it slowly combining with the Earth itself where until, just like the first Gateway, the lines were powered by the Earth itself.

It was then the brunette knew that the Slayer was forever; that as long as the Earth itself remained, there was no way the lines would be broken. Hera smiled before telling Athena that it was time for her to go; she listened as Athena said that she would bury Sineya's body with the weapon that was broken, and that she'd search for one who could hold on to the intact weapon. Hera did look down at the weapon that was intact, and could sense Sineya's power; she could sense her essence locked inside the weapon yearning for the day that her successor would hold on to the weapon again.

'Such power,' thought Hera to herself before she said goodbye to Athena.

When Athena ascended, she told Hera that she never gave the weapon to the Furlings in the Alliance of Four Great Races since she didn't trust any of them; she didn't give it to the Slayer called after Sineya since the Shadow Men had reached her first. They never saw Athena, but she saw them.. and Athena told Hera that she wanted to kick herself. She couldn't give the weapon to the one it was created for in case the Furlings captured it, and used it for their own ends. Instead, she searched the Earth for someone to trust. Athena told Hera that eventually, in her late eighties and finally an old grey haired woman, she found a group called the Guardians of the Ones who she believed could keep the weapon safe. Athena told her sister about handing the weapon to one of the women, Lara; telling her to keep it away from the Shadow Men.

"Would Lara not claim that it was you who created the weapon?" asked Hera as the both of them walked along the grass of another planet.

"I told her I did not want my name attached to that weapon," said Athena shaking her head, "they can take credit for it, if anyone finds out it was created using advanced technology of the Ancients.. can you imagine the chaos that would ensue? The wars to get a hold of that technology? The wars to get a hold of that weapon? No, it is best this way. The weapon remains in their hands, waiting for a Slayer to find it… for someone worthy to hold my daughter's weapon once again."

"Are you prepared to see mother and father?" asked Hera as she looked at the Stargate and mentally dialled an address.

"Yes" smiled Athena as the wormhole was formed.

"Come, my sister," said Hera as she held on to Athena's hand and the both of them flew through the wormhole.

It would be thousands of years later that Sineya's weapon would be found again in Gilroy; that a Slayer named Buffy Summers would pull the weapon that belonged to the most powerful of the Slayers from solid rock. And finally, Lara would finally meet the Slayer who was worthy enough to hold the weapon, the Scythe, once again. She had let the weapon pass on into story's and legends.. she kept up the lie that the weapon was created by the Guardians in respect for the faith that Athena had shown in them.

The tragedy was that she was then killed by Caleb; who in return was killed by Buffy using the Scythe's blade. However, the blade was dull from years of dormancy.. the nanites not having received the command to sharpen it once again to how it should be. It was soon after Buffy left that a white light filled the room and a red haired woman in a white and gold dress appeared. She walked over to Caleb and looked at the dead man before shaking her head. She then walked to the grey haired woman and looked down at her, then closed her eyes and smiled.

"There is some spark left" said the woman as she bent down and touched the dead woman, and then stepped back. She watched the body glow white before the body vanished, and only her old clothes remains. Then in front of the red-haired woman was another bright white light that soon faded to reveal a young, blonde haired woman in a dress similar to what she had just been wearing when she was alive.

"Greetings, Lara" said the woman.

"You… am I…. I.. I died and…"

"You have overcome the final hurdle that was keeping you away from your gift" said the woman with red hair.

"Ascension?"

"Your duty was to ensure the protection of the weapon, and that it falls into the hands of one who is worthy" said the woman, "it has fallen into the hands of its protector, and one who is worthy. You have competed your work, you have relieved yourself of your burden. You have done more than enough to earn ascension. You fulfilled a promise."

"You are an Ancient one" said Lara surprised, as she kneeled down while the woman rushed forward and picked her back up to her feet while chuckling.

"Technically, I'm a Lantean" said the woman, "you met my daughter? The one you made the promise to?"

"Athena" said Lara with a smile while the woman nodded her head.

"My name is Melina, and its time you began your journey."

**San Francisco, Present Day.**

"Dawn" said Buffy who was looking at her panicked sister while holding on to both of the brunette's cheeks, "Dawnie… what are you talking about?"

"Sounds like a past life?" asked Spike who was leaning against the wall.

"No" said Willow as she looked at Spike, and then at Buffy, "the monks of Dagon created her… she has no past life. Sorry, Dawnie… but…"

"Something's wrong with me" said Dawn when the building started to tremble, "I…"

The group could hear the plasma blasts hitting the buildings outside causing great explosions. They could hear one blast after another hitting the ground around them.

"You must leave" said a voice from behind them.

Turning around, Buffy stood up and raised the Scythe while Willow, who was still dizzy, did everything she could to stand up and attempt a lower end spell until she got her concentration back again; all the while Spike vamped out while he was still limping. They had already been surprised by one enemy, and there was no way that was going to happen again.

"We need to go" said Buffy as she signalled at Xander to rush towards Andrew and pick him up so that they could go somewhere else to regroup, and then fight back.

"You must leave far from here" said the figure in the white and gold dress with red hair, "the Wraith know that Dawn is here now. She is in danger and I will take you all away. Just… no… wait.. no… not now… please…. Lara… stop… One more moment with my…"

The group watched in surprise as the figure was pulled back into a single point of light which then vanished. Buffy was the one who came to her senses first before asking Willow if she was feeling good enough to teleport them somewhere else. Hearing the sounds of explosions and building, roads, cars, people, and demons getting destroyed by the plasma bursts.. Willow knew that there was no choice. She told Buffy that she'll get them as far away as possible.

It was while Buffy helped Willow stand up, and Spike helped Andrew stand up that the redhead grabbed her head and gasped before she fell out of Buffy's arm and fell onto the stairs again.

"Will?" asked Buffy who was looking around as the building continued to shaking more and more, "I need.. we need you to get us out of here and…."

"They're dead" said Willow as she looked at the Slayer, "Chao-an and…. and Caridad… injured…. I… Buffy, they're gone I…."

"We mourn them later, Red!" said Spike as the intensity increased. He could hear that the floor they were on had heart beats that were racing so he ran to each door and pounded on the doors telling them to get out.. that he knew a way out of there to safety.

But no one came out as the shaking increased.

"Will" said Xander as he held on to Dawn's shoulder, "we need to get.."

There was a sound of thunder followed by a burning sensation as Willow turned around and her eyes blackened before she raised a small force field around the Scoobies. She then, while bleeding from the nose and stepping back while yelping in pain at another large blast, followed by large chunks of debris from the explosions around them, followed by six more giant blasts with more trailing behind then, and even more falling debris that hit her shield, whispered a spell. Before they knew it, the Scoobies found themselves standing on damp grass with mountains in the distance. Once they had all materialized, Willow collapsed on her knees as Buffy dropped the Scythe and ran to her best friend, as did Spike after he lay the weakened Andrew on the grass, followed by Xander and Dawn who was biting down on her finger nails.

"Where's the Vampyr book?" asked Buffy as she kneeled in front of Willow who was on the verge of passing out, which was when the blonde Slayer looked up, and over Willow's shoulder and realized where they were.

The one place that Willow thought that they could be safe while they regrouped; Oz's monastery in Tibet.

**Oz's Monastery, Tibet.**

Oz was in the kitchen making food for his son, Keldan, while his wife was playing with him in the living room and listening to the radio. That had been about fifteen minutes ago when his wife, Bay, screamed his name. Oz dropped everything and ran to the room where Bay was holding on to Keldan tightly. Before he could ask what happened, Oz heard over the radio about the attack on San Francisco, New York, Las Vegas, Portland, Shanghai, Beijing, and various other cities around the world. Before they could hear anything else, they had lost all signals following the sounds of thunder in the background from where the transmission was taking place.

Oz and Bay could only look at each other before wondering what was going on this time. IT would be several minutes later that they would finally get their answer. The orange haired young man told Bay and Keldan to stay in the monastery while he ran out to check on the recent arrivals; the ones who had been here during the Twilight crisis and brought death and destruction to this place of peace.

"Buffy!" shouted Oz when he smelled blood in the air, including the blood from his ex-girlfriend who was looking back at him and panting with black eyes that quickly returned to their normal colour. He assessed each one of them as he ran down the small hill, his feet hitting the ground while he looked at an older man from whom he received a familiar scent… but he couldn't believe his eyes, he then saw Xander whose face was bruised before going onto Spike who looked as if he had gone toe to toe with demons, and then he looked at Dawn who was trembling while she stood behind her sister who was kneeling in front of Willow, whose eyes rolled back into the back of her head and she collapsed on the grass.

"Willow!" shouted Oz as he slid down to his knees and felt for a pulse before he sighed and said that she was alive.

"Red's exhausted" said Spike, "she protected us all from… I don't believe I gonna say this but she saved us from bloody ray guns, and… I don't know what's going on."

"The radio just went out" said Oz as he carried Willow in his arms, while Xander helped up Andrew, and Buffy put Spike's arm around her shoulder before motioning for Dawn to hold her hand.. that they'll get to the bottom of what was going on with her, while trying to find out a way to save the world. They walked towards the monastery while Oz told them that the last thing he, Bay, and Keldan heard was something about a possible alien attack.

"You have no idea" said Xander as he looked at Oz, who then opened his eyes wide and stopped, as did Buffy who lifted up the Scythe in her free hand and then had Dawn help keep Spike standing while she ran in front of her friends who were facing a young blonde haired woman in a white dress.

"I don't know who you are,' said Oz, "this is a sanctuary and…"

"I am not here to fight" said the woman as she looked at Oz, and then at Buffy, "the Scythe looks good on you."

"Do I know you?" asked Buffy as she narrowed her eyes at the woman; she felt as if she had seen her before somewhere, but she couldn't place it.

"You are the key, Dawn Summers.. everything you need is already at your fingertips. Just have to look in," said the woman as she looked to Dawn and glowed, "I pulled her away before she could do anything, that's all you need to know. Good luck."

The woman then vanished just as mysteriously, leaving the Scoobies looking at Dawn confused.

"I don't know her," said Dawn.

"Let's get Willow inside," said Oz, "we need to get you guys fixed up, then you can tell me everything."

Dawn followed the others while holding onto Spike who was looking back at her.

"We'll find out what's going on with you, lil'bit" said Spike gently.

"I'm going insane" said Dawn softly as she helped Spike walk into the main monastery entrance.

TBC.

 


	4. Chapter 4

**London, England, 1800 hours.**

It has been nearly four months since Faith and Angel had managed to restore Giles back to life through a very complicated process that itself lasted months. With the death of Buffy's former Watcher at the hands of Angel when he was taken over by Twilight, the ensouled vampire was in a catatonic state until brought out of it by the very person he had helped bring out of her own darkness, Faith. His guilt in causing the death of a dear friend, Angel then sought, and later managed to bring back Giles with the help of the latter's great-aunts; albeit as a young twelve boy with all of the adult Giles' memories and knowledge. Soon after magic was returned to the world, Giles returned to the United States where he finally was reunited with Buffy and the other Scoobies. But things had changed drastically, both in the relationship between him and the others.. as well as in magic itself; the prime example being an upgrade to vampires sired after magic was relaunched into the world. The young watcher, as well as the Scoobies, then began the arduous task of writing new laws of magic into the Vampyre book which had once contained all the laws of magic, but was now fully empty. So the Scoobies, as well as a small council of demons, worked together to slowly write new laws that would be fair to everyone... to keep a balance so that neither good nor evil had too much power.

However, it was during his life in the States that Giles found he was being asked, unknowingly, to retake his old role as adviser and surrogate parent to the Scoobies. Giles knew that Buffy and the others had matured, after all.. they had done great things, such as bringing back Dawn from the ether, while he wasn't present in their lives. So he made a choice, that he wanted to go back to his roots in England; he wanted to try and move on. He told Buffy that he wanted a new start; plus he wanted to rebuild his life.

What he thought was going to be a grand endeavor, wasn't exactly as Giles thought it would be. Giles wasn't too happy with his situation as he stood on top of the roof of his two aunts' flat in London.

'Reliving my youth when I've already lived is… is unfair,' thought Giles to himself as he looked out at the darkening skies of the city that was slowly being lit up beyond, 'I had a life in San Francisco, but no.. I had to strike out on my own. So what will I do now? I don't have my own flat, all my assets are still frozen because of my death, and yes… that is what I'll have to tell my bankers tomorrow when I finally meet them, 'oh hello, I'm Rupert Giles and I just returned from the dead.'

Giles closed his eyes, fixed his glasses and then calmed himself while he stood alone on the roof. It was a few minutes later that he heard the door behind him open, and a familiar voice shout at him; however the voice had an edge to it.. an edge of worry that the owner rarely had.

"Giles!" shouted Faith as the young boy looked back at the dark haired Slayer, the girl he had been helping when he was older to fit into the larger world; the girl he was helping because he thought that she deserved a shot at redemption. The same girl who, instead of leaving, said she wanted to help make sure that wayward Slayers didn't become like her. Now Giles could see fear in her eyes and she called out to him again, and motioned for him to follow her, "come quick, we've got a huge problem."

"There's always a huge problem," said Giles as he ran into the flat after Faith and closed the door to the roof behind him. He ran after Faith, who ran down some stairs until they reached a hallway. The Slayer then turned and grabbed Giles' hand before running, pulling the watcher behind her, until they reached the living room where two middle aged women, and Angel, were watching the television.. specifically they were watching the news. Giles noticed the look of shock on all of them, and then he looked at Faith… he then saw the same look on her face before he looked at the images of destruction, fires, smoking ruins, and various other videos clips of images from cell phone cameras, satellite images, and even a link from the International Space Station just before the image cut off.

It was then that two people, one male and one female in a British news studio appeared on screen before they started to speak in a sombre tone of voice.

"That was the last image sent down by the crew of the International Space Station" said the female anchor, "after that… NASA and NORAD reported that there was an explosion at the location of the ISS, as… as difficult as it is to believe, extraterrestrial life has come to this planet. And they have made an unprovoked attack on multiple locations on this planet."

"What?" asked Giles as he looked up at Faith who had both of her hands on the young boy's shoulders, while she just looked at the screen.. her hands squeezing Giles; shoulders.

"Giles," said Angel shaking his head while looking at the TV, "Buffy…, I…"

Giles then looked at the screen again to see even more images of destruction. They were showing explosions, they showed demons fighting and killing some creatures; there was a video about two large demons that were killing some pale creatures in armour, then just as the person on the other end of the camera was actually cheering the demons on.. the two bladed and horned demons were put down by weapons fire from the air; and then there was a bright flash of light and the image changed to a smoking ruin in the middle of the dessert.

"One of the last pieces of news we received from the American news networks, before they went offline, is that an Air Force base in the state of Nevada, two hours away from Las Vegas was hit by what some scientists have described as blasts of superheated plasma. The base, long rumoured to be the site of Area 51, has been destroyed.. as have San Francisco, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York, Beijing, and… Oh God."

The group watched in utter shock as the female anchor put her hands on her mouth before she just looked at the camera, which then the camera switched to the male anchor who had a faraway look in his eyes, when someone off screen called out to him.

"The…. The..," said the man, his voice breaking, "sorry… as.. as far as we know before all satellite feeds were lost from the United States, alien creatures have landed and… there were reports of these creatures feeding on human beings. We… we have received reports from the European Space Agency that these.. these ships are moving and…"

The group then felt the ground tremble before they fell into the ground as the windows in the house shattered inwards thanks to the shockwave caused by an explosion several feet away.

"Get into the bomb shelters, now" said one of Giles' great-aunts, Vin Fairweather, as she pulled her sister when the house shook again… some of the shelves of books and the chandelier falling onto the floor, followed by the south wall blowing inwards thanks to another shockwave that pushed Giles, the two Great-aunts, Faith, and Angel to separate directions before they were covered in debris thanks to more shockwaves.

"Giles! Faith! Vin! Sophie!" shouted Angel as he pushed the debris that had fallen on him off his body,. He then got up and looked at the destruction around him and felt the ground still shaking. He looked at the broken screen and then noticed that the lights had all turned off… power was gone. He ran to a window and saw it rain blue fire, with explosions in the distance; before he turned around upon hearing movement.

"Faith!" shouted Angel as the Slayer pushed debris off her before she stood up with his help. Faith then got up to her unsteady feet while she gently nudged the vampire to find the others, "Giles, Vin, Sophie?"

"Here" said a soft voice as debris flee off a small shield that was surrounding the twelve year old Giles. Once the debris was off him, Angel ran up to him and helped him stand up before telling the vampire that the first thing that came to his mind as a protection spell to shield him from the debris.

"Thanks for shielding me too, G" said Faith as she limped towards him and Angel while they heard people screaming outside in the dark, as explosions lit up nearby areas, along with the ground rumbling beneath them. Angle looked around at the apartment before telling Giles he wasn't sure how much more pounding the building could take.

"This survived the war" said Sophie who was hobbling towards them with Vin's arm on her shoulders. Looking at the confused looks on their faces, the two women told Faith, Giles, and Angel that just before the debris fell on them, they teleported to the kitchen where Sophie twisted her ankle after there was another tremor.

"Angel" said Giles as he looked at the older man while he wiped the dust and soot of his own face, "you and Buffy share this…. I can't believe I'm going to admit this, but you share a bond. IS she… is she dead?"

Faith looked at the look of concern on Giles' face and then looked away and hobbled to the couch which had toppled over. She used her strength to push it right side up before she took a seat and then rubbed her feet. Faith knew that she and Buffy had their differences, and that their relationship had improved slightly.. but she still couldn't help feeling jealous that Giles saw the blonde as his Slayer.

'It's not me,' thought Faith to herself as she messaged her feet, 'ah who cares, I'm still fighting the good fight despite all my fuck ups. So Yay me.'

Faith then looked up and nodded her head when Angel said that he could feel that Buffy was still alive; which led to asking if they knew how to get to the States since the airports would be out of commission.

"Rupert" whispered Sophie when she looked at a gaping hole in one of the wall, and the pointed her hand towards the opening. Faith then got up and limped up to Angel, who then placed Faith's arm across his shoulder and led her to where Vin, Sophie, and Giles were standing with their mouths agape. Angel and Faith then looked on as multiple smoke trails were heading into the sky above, and soon a few of them exploded thanks to weapons fire from small planes, which were soon under attack by jets from the Royal Air Force.

However it wasn't the dogfights in the air that had their attention, it was the planes that skimmed low just over the building as a energy beam of some sort fired from the bottom part of the alien planes. Then Faith and the others saw multiple flashes of light in the sky.

"Nuclear weapons," said Giles, as another nuke went off against the Potentia powered, and strengthened, hull of the Wraith cruiser it had hit; leaving the ship unharmed as it returned fire towards the areas where the nukes were fired from.

"Dear lord," said Giles as blue fire rained down in the distance, followed by the sounds of explosions that travelled through the air. They could then hear the sounds of roaring in the distance as demons and various other magical creatures who were, unknown to Giles and the others, fighting the Wraith who had landed and were attacking them. The Wraith warriors, the masked versions of the Pegasus natives, were being butchered by some of the demons; until they turned their weapon's output to their lethal setting, and fired. Some of the Wraith leaders then even called on air strikes from the Darts that were buzzing in the sky while some even managed to grab some of the more humanoid creatures before sucking their life force; while the ones that were non-human looking were killed.

"I'm heading out there" said Angel as he looked at Faith, and then at Giles who was slightly trembling. He then looked at Vin, and Sophie before telling them to find a way to get to Buffy. That they needed to regroup and fight.

"I'm staying with you," said Faith as she looked at the vampire let go of her before walking into the house that was going to break apart any minute. She saw him looking around before bending down to get a sword and an axe that fell next to the fireplace. Faith then limped towards him and reintegrated that she was going along with him.

"No," said Angel as he walked towards the dark haired Slayer before he nodded at her leg, "you're injured, Faith. Go with these guys, find Buffy… regroup, and then attack again. We're not leaving these people to die. I'll take lead with the local nests and fight theses aliens, you heal up… and then get back."

"We… we'll stay" said Giles, his hand shaking.

"Thanks," said Angel as he looked at Giles, "but you're terrified, and I don't blame you. Once you find Buffy, get Willow to transport all of you to Kennedy… I'm sure Deepscan has the resources to find out what they have in space, and… well, Kennedy's got the resources to find out anything. Maybe search the books on signs that something like this happened before.. or.. something. Find it."

"But…, "said Giles as the building shook again.

"Get out of here" said Angel as he ran towards the hole with the sword and axe, "if you can't find Buffy, find Willow.. she's supposed to be the most powerful witch. So, do it. And GET BACK!"

They watched as Angel jumped out of the hole and then on to the ground a floor down. He then looked back up and ran into an alleyway after telling them to move it.

"Find Willow then" said Sophie as she looked at Giles who looked at Angel leaving to fight, and then up at the blue fire that was raining down in the distance.

**Oz's Monastery, at that same time.**

Willow was lying unconscious on a bed while Bay, Oz's wife, was putting a cold compress on the redhead's burning forehead. In the meantime, Oz was giving Buffy and the others some herbs to eat while Andrew was lying down on another side of the bed. It was Dawn, who was sitting next to him and holding his hand while talking to him softly.

"Andrew?" asked the Brunette, "how do you feel?"

"Tired," said the young man as he looked at Dawn, "you ok? Heard that thing… that Wraith thing said some weird things and…"

"I don't know anything, Andrew," said Dawn shaking her head, "I swear."

"I believe you," said Andrew softly, "dungeons and dragons later?"

"Old man" said Dawn with a small smiled as she looked at Andrew, "joking at a time like this."

"Dawnie, Andrew," said Buffy as she headed up to her sister and crouched next to her before handing the brunette a drink. She then headed to Andrew with another cup of brown liquid before she sat down, and then helped to lift up his upper body before feeding him the liquid from the cup, telling him that it was going to taste strange, "but Oz say's that it helps take away fatigue, and gives energy to a body. It's worth a shot."

"Nice thing with the Captain America shield though" said Xander as he looked at Andrew while he sat next to Dawn.

"And that was a original prop from the movie" said Andrew as Xander smirked before he looked at Dawn.

"Dawnie?" asked Xander, "you ok?"

"I don't know," replied Dawn as she looked at Andrew, and then at Willow. The brunette then got up and walked towards the redhead while Oz was putting something on her lips, "I… I've been having strange dreams since Willow brought me back; it's been less and less, but when the ships came I…"

"What dreams?" asked Spike who was seated in one corner of the room, "pet?"

"A city of towers" said Dawn as she looked at Willow, "I saw lights, people, and…."

"They were just dreams, Dawn" said Xander as he got up, while Buffy was looking at him as he placed his hands on the brunette's shoulders, "you remember what Willow said, that the monks created you. You don't have a past life."

"You are a new life, Dawnie," said Buffy as she looked at her sister who turned back towards her, and then looked at Xander, and then at her once again.

"It looked so real" said Dawn softly as she looked at Willow, and then at Buffy, "I saw someone who looks like me… I saw someone who looks like Willow… I saw.. I saw me die, and…"

"Excuse me?" said Bay as everyone looked at her, 'you saw yourself die?"

"It was in a dark place," said Dawn as she wrapped her hands around her body, "one of those Wraith things was there.. and there was someone else. I think it was another Wraith and…. and next thing I saw was that.. Oh, Willow was there too… anyway, I saw myself being turned into a husk and… and Willow called me her sister."

"Huh?" asked Buffy when there was a sudden thud in the middle of the room as the Scoobies all stepped back in surprise at the sudden appearance of four people who were groaning on the floor, smoke wafting into the air from here they appeared out of the blue.

"Faith?" asked Buffy as Oz the others looked on surprised as the dark haired Slayer, who was lying face down on the floor, with a young boy groaning while he was draped face down across her back. She then saw a blonde and a red-haired woman she never met who were slowly getting up.

"Instead of looking at us," and a groaning Sophie who was on her back looking at the faces looking back at her, "how about some manners in helping us back to our feet."

"I hate teleportation" said Faith as she slowly raised her head and smiled at Buffy, "hey, B… sorry that we had to drop in.. get it?"

"Faith" said Giles as he slowly opened his eyes, "you're puns are just as bad as Buffy's, and Sophie… really? You've still can't stick a landing?"

"Don't look now, Rupert," said Vin, as Spike helped her up, "look, it's the other one… Captain Bleach."

"Funny" said Spike as he looked at the familiar women before he helped pick up Sophie. IN the meantime, Giles looked up at Buffy, who was looking back at him while he got off Faith, who then Xander had helped up before leading her to sit next to Andrew, while Oz then looked at her leg.

"Hello, Buffy" said Giles as he stood a few steps away from the Slayer he had known since high school, "I see you're doing well? I cannot tell you how glad I am that…"

"Giles!" exclaimed Dawn as a smile creeped up on her face, "you're alright?"

Dawn screamed in happiness while Xander, and Buffy, looked on as Dawn hugged the young boy before lifting him up and then spinning around. All while Giles was asking Dawn to put him down, that what she was doing was unseemly.

Once everything had been explained on the situation in London, and what they assumed to be the rest of England and Europe, and after Buffy had nearly killed Giles again by hugging him; they then got down to business, with Buffy staying next to Giles and Dawn. Giles told them about the reports he had seen on the news, as did Faith and the others; while Buffy, Xander, Dawn, Spike, and Andrew told them about the aliens they had fought and Willow using a shield to protect them from the plasma blasts; a feat that exhausted her.

"But not to the point of death" said Sophie as she looked at the redhead who was beginning to stir, with Bay leaning forward and whispering something into the redhead's ear as Oz came in with a tray of drinks and then handed the liquid to the newcomers, before sitting down next to Willow's bed.

"How bad?" he asked.

"Bad" said Faith, "like teh G-boy said, Angel's there fighting, we need to get back in the game. What's the plan? Magic? Something? How about uploading a virus to the mothership?"

"We don't know how many ships are up there" said Buffy.

"And the whole sending a virus is just a fantasy" said Andrew who was sitting up while drinking more of the liquid as he felt his strength slowly returning, "nuclear weapons could work."

"It didn't" said Faith while she rubbed her feet with some lotion that Oz had given her soon after she arrived, "they just started to fire back."

"Shields?" asked Andrew as his eyes widened, "that would be so cool."

"So you know as little as we do then" said Giles as he shook his head.

"We know that one of them touched Andrew and he grew old," said Xander before he looked at Andrew and apologized; Andrew just waved his hand and shrugged his shoulder, "and.. well.."

"He said he knew me," said Dawn as the newcomers looked at her, Giles fixing his glasses before asking the brunette to elaborate, "he said he was there when he took me out of a ship; something called a Gateship."

"Gateship?" asked Giles.

"He said that I should have died," said Dawn, "he called me a Lantean, said that he'll feed on me.. a member of that pompous race; his quotes."

"But that shouldn't make sense," said Buffy as she looked at Giles, "we know Dawn was created, she shouldn't have any memories other than what the…. Dawn?"

"No," said Dawn as she got up hurriedly and stumbled backwards with her hands held out in front of her, "stay.. stay away… Buffy! Buffy! It.. it… Glory, it.. it's Glory and…"

"Dawn," said Buffy as she rushed to her sister while everyone else stood up and looked around the room where there was no Glory in sight. At first, they believed it could be the First Evil tricking Dawn, but that idea went out the window when Dawn stopped screaming out for help. Instead they saw Dawn glaring at Buffy while she had her arms at her side, her hands opened wide with her palms facing outwards.

"Dawnie?" asked Buffy as she looked at her sister who appeared to be glaring right right at her, 'no, she's looking past me.'

Buffy turned around and looked at the other Scoobies, and the newcomers, and then back at Dawn again. There was no one there, there was no one she could be looking at.

"I will not interfere, mother" said Dawn while Buffy took a step back as she noticed the change in her sister's speech pattern. She was pulled back further when greyish-white light started to gather at the palms of the brunette's hands. Upon seeing the light, Buffy turned and told Oz to take his child out of the room.

"Bay!" shouted Oz as his wife got up quickly, and ran out the door with Keldan in her arms while the little boy was flailing his arms towards his father. Oz and the others then looked at Dawn with concern as the light in the palms of her hands intensified.

"Dawnie?" said Xander as he approached Dawn cautiously with his hands out in front of him and reaching for the woman he loved, "Dawnie, can you hear me? Let put away those globes now, huh? What'ya say? Sweetie?"

"Dawn?" said Spike, "calm down, Pet. We'll find out what's wrong with you."

Everyone was looking in concern at the girl who was just standing there with the light in the palms of her hands shining brightly.

"This world is beautiful…. You seek to harm it."

"Who seeks to harm it?" asked Giles as he gently pushed away Xander and Buffy; who moved away as if Giles had always been there… as if the young boy was the same Giles that they had known for years; which, by all accounts, he was, "Dawn, do you mean the Wraith?"

Giles then placed a hand on the top of one of her hands and he stiffened. He heard Buffy and the others shouting towards him in concern when everything melted around him and he found himself in a stone walled room that was brightly lit. He looked around and saw banners hanging on the walls, wooden tables on the floor… as well as bodies. Numerous dead bodies everywhere. He then saw a very familiar woman, a blonde in a red dress with blood dripping from her hands.

"Glory?" said Giles.

"I seek?" replied Glory as she stepped forward and Giles stepped back. It was then Giles noticed that Glory wasn't looking at him, instead she was looking behind him, "I will… I will go home where I am a god."

Giles turned around to see a figure in a white dress wearing a white cloak, with a face covered in a white hood. Narrowing his eyes as he walked towards the woman in white, he noticed a large wooden door behind her with the symbol of the Order of Dagon etched on it. He then stopped and looked at the banners and noticed the same symbols before he looked at the woman again.

"Dawn was created by the monks" said Giles as he cautiously approached the woman, "so who are you? What do you have to do with Glory? And with Dawn?"

"You do not realize what you are doing" said the woman, as Giles stopped, while she lay her arms at her side, the woman's face still covered underneath the shadow of her hood, "I know what you are, Glorificus… what you seek will destroy this beautiful world."

"They have my Key to get home" said Glory in anger as Giles looked back at the mad god and then stepped aside as she took a step forward, "get out of the way, or else I move you. Actually, let me move you… it's more fun that way."

Giles looked at Glory, and then the woman in white as she opened her palms as white energy gathered into balls of light.

'Just like what Dawn's doing now' thought Giles to himself when he could just make out a smile under the hood's shadow.

"I would like to see you try," said the woman in white as Giles took a step back. He could feel the hair on his arms standing up, but he couldn't feel magic in the air.. Giles stumbled back and went down on the floor as the light in the woman in white's palms got brighter.

"I'm a god," sneered Glory as she took a step forward.

"Funny" said the woman Giles had been watching as she took a few steps forward with the light in her hands, "so am I."

Then suddenly the woman in white stopped, and the light in the palms of her hand vanished as she turned around. Giles saw the hooded woman turn into a ball of light that went through the stone wall; and then he felt his body being pushed.. along with a chorus of voices calling his name.. as well as calling for Dawn. She heard Buffy telling Oz and Xander to do something for him and Dawn.

"Wait" groaned Giles, finding himself on the floor and on his back. He saw Buffy breathe a sigh of relieve before she helped him up; it was when he sat up that he saw Dawn collapsed on the floor with her eyes shut.. and the white light gone from the palms of her hands.

"It was weird" said Faith while Vin and Sophie rushed to Dawn to make sure she was alright, "you and the munchkin fainted at the same time; the white light in her hands vanished just then, and… and well…"

"You've been out for a few seconds," said Oz while Xander and Buffy helped Dawn to a bed next to Andrew, "what happened?"

"I… I don't know" said Giles as he remembered the woman in White, "we need Willow back quickly. She's the one who brought Dawn back and.. I don't know if…"

"Dawn came back wrong, didn't she?" asked Buffy.

"All I know is that there's something going on that we're not aware of" said Giles as he looked at Dawn, before he looked at Oz and the others, "we need Willow, now."

**Oz's Monastery, 1900 hours.**

I had been many hours since the two groups arrived in the monastery; and while Buffy and Faith were already fully healed, Spike knew he'd take a few hours longer, while Xander was still injured while he next to Dawn while holding her hand. He kept on looking at her face, and then her chest to make sure that it was moving up and down; to make sure that the young woman was breathing. In addition, Andrew was on his feet thanks to Bay's herbal concoctions but he could only walk with a walking still since he felt exhausted most of the time.

All that while, Giles sitting out and looking at the darkening sky as more streaks headed out into space… followed by there being great flashes of light. He sat next to Vin, and Sophie, who just looked up at the sky with the young boy.. their magic levels having been significantly lowered thanks to the long distance teleportation; however they said that they were recovering the magic, and then once Willow woke up.. they'll get to fixing Dawn.

"And then we kick these bastards of our planet," said Faith a few hours ago, her face twisted in anger hoping that Angel was still alive; in a matter of speaking that it.

However, Giles didn't reveal what he saw to the others, even though they were badgering him. He told them the truth, that he had no idea what he had seen, and that they only person who could help clear everything up was Dawn.

Xander then told Giles and the newcomers about the message from the mysterious woman earlier that day, that Dawn was the key.

"We know she's the Key," said Buffy.

"I wonder," Giles had said while running his chin and looking over Dawn when Xander told him about the woman, "maybe she meant Dawn's important, not as the Key… but she's key to unlocking some secret.. or…"

"That would imply she's still a Key" said Vin.

Back in the present, Giles just shook his head and saw more streaks flying into the sky which, after few minutes, gave off a brighter flash than anyone them had seen before. Sophie and Vin rose up in surprise before they whispered that they sensed magic in a few of those weapons.

"I wouldn't be surprised if the military's of the world have begun to magically augment their weapons" said Giles as he stood up when the horizon in the distance over some mountains lit up blue, "the American military tried to bomb the Slayer Council's base in Scotland with that kind of a weapon. Actually they did if I remember correctly and…"

"Giles! Vin! Sophie!" shouted Faith, "Red's awake."

"Here we go," said Giles as he got up, along with his Great-aunts, and rushed into the monastery again and saw Willow sitting up in bed drinking a second cup of herbal tea given to her by Bay. In the meantime, he saw that Kelden, who was in Oz's arms, was reaching for the redhead; and soon the toddler laughed when Willow grabbed him and just hugged him tight while Kelden laughed.

"Hello, Willow" said Giles while Vin and Sophie stood on either side of him. Willow looked at the young boy standing in front of her with a grin on her face.

"Giles!" screamed the redhead as she gently gave Kelden to Bay before she got up and rushed towards Giles, before kneeling down and then hugging him while screaming in joy again.

"Giles" said Willow as she held him tight, "we were so worried."

"We are doing quite alright, Willow" said Giles as Willow pulled back and nodded her head before kissing him on his cheeks.

"Awww... You're so cute with the soot on your cheeks and everything," Willow couldn't help but say as Buffy and Faith stated to laugh at how red Giles' face went. The redhead then looked up at Oz and said that she was sorry, that she needed some place far away in near isolation for them to regroup and his monastery was the first one that came to mind.

"Better than coming here in a submarine," said Oz while Bay smiled and nodded her head.

"Willow," said Buffy as she pointed at Dawn, "can you…?"

"Dawnie?" asked Willow as she ran to the brunette, passed Xander as she patted the young man on his back, before she kneeled down behind Dawn, and placed both of her hands at either side of Dawn's head.

"Are you at full power?" asked Spike looking at Willow.

"It's enough" said Willow as she closed her eyes, "the headache's nearly gone, but…. wait a second."

"Willow?" asked Buffy in concern as she looked at the redhead tighten her eyes, while Dawn was groaning as she moved her head from side to side.

"Athena" said Dawn with her eyes still closed as Willow started to say a spell, "I sense the darkness from the Gateway; the Slayer will be coming to this city, she will protect you."

"Willow?" asked Giles as Dawn started to glow green, with a layer of pulsing white light that was right above the layer of green mist, "What's going on?"

"It can't be" said Willow as she slowly spread her hands, which were crackling with blue and red magical energy, slightly away from Dawn's head, "something's… it's not possible. You were created… the monks created you. That's what we found when we went back to their… Goddess… no."

"Red?" asked Faith as the White light over Dawn started to glow again.

"Willow?" asked Buffy as she covered her eyes with her arm, "what's going on?"

"There's a life force!" shouted Willow as the light White light started to brighten, "Oh wow… so bright."

"She's the Key!" shouted Sophie as she covered her eyes from the light, as did the others.. even Andrew, "we know what she is… she is created life… and…"

"Oh dear lord" said Giles as tendrils appeared from the white layers and then suddenly thrust down through the green mist. The group saw that the green mist was being absorbed into the white light which then formed into a swirling vortex of white and green energy that spun around the young woman. Willow then got up and stepped back, as did Xander as the mixture of the green and white energy funnelled itself back into Dawn who then snapped her eyes open and sat up while she was panting, and then she put a hand on her chest.

"What just happened?" asked Buffy as she looked at Dawn, and then Willow, "Will?"

"I… I just injected some pure magic" said Willow as she and Xander walked around to the front of Dawn who hung her head while she was panting, "I didn't even do my whole mojo thing and…"

"The walls were falling" said Dawn as she panted while she hung her head and closed her eyes as she tried to regain her bearings, "when I was gone.. the walls dropped completely. Then when Willow recreated me, I did what I could to redo the walls.. it was a patchwork job. But it would have lasted until I died.. I mean I'd get memories here and there appearing as dreams and.. but the walls would have stayed up."

"Dawnie?" asked Buffy as she approached Willow and Xander cautiously, as did the others while Giles was slowly making his way towards the brunette, "or are you Dawn?"

"This isn't possible" said Willow, "I read the scrolls of the Order of Dagon, there was everything there to form the Key into a human. But just now I sensed a life force… there… that's not possible."

"When the Wraith came" said Dawn while her head was still hanging down, "the wall broke.. and I remembered everything. It was like a dam breaking apart with all the memories. I was gonna go, but Willow… Willow injected me with pure magic. Gave me the push I needed to patch myself up… to put the Key back into every atom of my being; but it was too late for my memories. It's out and…"

"Who are you?" asked Buffy as Dawn looked up at her, and there was something in her eyes that Buffy didn't recognize.

"She's Dawn" said Spike as he sniffed the air, as did Oz who nodded his head; but just in case, he asked Bay to leave with Kelden again.

"Stay" said Dawn as she looked at Bay and slowly got up to her feet, and then at Kelden and her facial expression softened at looking at the baby, "you need to know the threat against you.. the threat against this planet."

"Dawn" said Giles as Dawn looked at the young boy, "that vision I saw, of a woman in white… and Glory in the headquarters of the Order of Dagon. That was you… wasn't it?"

"Glory was gonna use the Key, she was going to destroy the world" said Dawn as she looked at Giles, and then at Buffy, followed by Willow and then at Buffy again, "she would have killed my sister, she would have killed her friends… I had to do something."

"I don't understand" said Giles, as Dawn closed her eyes, "I saw you.. or at least I saw the lady in white tell Glory that she was a god as well."

"My mother and I hoped that the monks would discover that a normal human body wasn't going to work" said Dawn as she looked at Giles who looked back at her as he slowly made a realization.

"The Key's an extremely powerful form of energy" said the young Watcher, "if the monks had made a normal human body, it could have instantly broken up. Is that what you're saying?"

'Yes" said Dawn nodding her head, "we couldn't interfere in the affairs of the lower plains so we couldn't tell the monks that they were making a mistake."

"Wait.. what?" asked Willow, "who can't interfere? Are you talking about the Powers that Be? And why did you say We?"

"We weren't the Powers" said Dawn as she looked at Willow, and remembered her sister, before she looked away again at Giles, "the Monks were about to create a body in a hurry. They believed they had more time, but one of their own gave them away after Glory tortured him. She killed everyone… but the four monks responsible for preparing the body weren't ready… not yet. They didn't know about the need for a more advanced body that could hold the Matrix."

"Matrix?" asked Faith.

"That's what we called it.. what we call the Key," said Dawn.

"There's the we, again" said Buffy, "Dawnie, this isn't funny anymore."

"It's not meant to be funny, Buff" said Dawn as she looked at her sister, "my mother was going to sacrifice herself to become the Key's vessel; but I couldn't let her do it. I was afraid that if… if she did it, then I'd be alone. I already lost my sister, I lost my father, and I didn't want to lose her too. I told her that I'll be the vessel."

"That doesn't make sense" said Vin.

"Yes, it does," said Spike as he looked at Dawn, "what did you do?"

"I begged my mother to watch over me and my sister" said Dawn, "that I'd be with Athena, by her side… she wouldn't know who I was, and I wouldn't know who she was; I mean I wouldn't know that we were sisters, but we'd be in the same plain of existence together. My mother locked away my memories so that I could do what my sister did years earlier so that we wouldn't get punished; she locked my memories away in a corner of my mind. I was never supposed to get them back… and she took away my knowledge, my powers, my immortality until all that was left was my essence with only one message. Then I remember my mother saying goodbye to me before I flew into green mist."

"What was the message?" asked Oz.

"I wanted to name myself" said Dawn, "I wanted the name of my favourite time of day.. the time when I'd look at my older sister after she was reborn as a human. I'd see her open her eyes when she was a baby and look at me, sometimes she'd smile.. Sometimes she'd laugh… but I'd always be there every dawn. Dawn… Dawn Summers. I remembered such pain when my essence joined with the Matrix, and then I was in a room looking at Buffy; and I had memories of our childhood."

"Does anyone here think that this is a bit crazy?" asked Sophie while Xander, Andrew, and a few others remained silent; while Buffy and Faith was preparing for action in case Dawn was possessed. The blonde Slayer even asked Willow to magically check Dawn again.

"We don't have time for anymore explanations" said Dawn as she looked at Buffy and at Willow, "the Wraith are here… and.. look, it's impossible for them to be here. There's no way they could even find this planet."

"Why?" asked Giles.

"Their only supposed to have interstellar hyperdrive technology," said Dawn shaking her head, "there's… maybe they could have if the upgraded their technology but they don't even know about the Milky Way."

"Say what now?" asked Andrew, "Hyperdrive? Are you kidding me? But… it's just a fantasy like warp drive and… I mean….."

"Oh, Andrew" said Dawn as she headed towards the older boy before she kneeled down and caressed his wrinkled face, "I'm so sorry."

"OK," said Xander, "Dawnie, I know this is a bit weird… I mean we've seen and experienced the weird, but.. but what you're telling us is nearly impossible."

"Dawn," said Willow, "and interstellar faster than light travel is…. I mean even I can't do that magically, I mean I wish I could cause it would be so cool but…"

"There's nothing cool about a race that feeds on life force" said Dawn as she looked at Andrew and held on to his shoulder, "Andrew, the Wraith fed on you. It fed on your life force… look, you're not old as in aging old. It took the force that's keeping you alive and… the only way to get you to how you used to be, is to get a wraith to put back the life force it's fed."

"Space vampires?" asked Spike as Andrew looked confused at Dawn, "Dawn?"

"Vampires are merciful" said Dawn solemnly as she looked at Spike, "either they kill you, or they turn you. The Wraith just feed… to them humans are cattle; livestock. There are some they use as worshippers… you see, the feeding process nourishes the Wraith, and is every euphoric to the victim… imagine going through a massive high while you die; then imagine the massive high when they give back the life force they take from you in exchange for bringing back more food for them. And now they're here, they were never supposed to find Earth. I don't know how they have intergalactic hyperdrives."

"Intergalactic?" asked Willow as she raised her hands in frustrations, "Dawn, I need to check you out and…"

"Spike" said Dawn as she smiled at Andrew before getting up and then turning around to look at Willow. She noticed that Buffy was standing next to the redhead while holding the Scythe, and Faith was off to the side, with Xander who seemed a bit uneasy; while Oz, Bay, the Fairweathers, and Giles were pushed back for their protection. Dawn then looked at Spike again and asked if she can hear her heartbeat.

"Yea," he replied.

"You tell them if I'm lying?" asked Dawn.

"Nibb'let… yea," said Spike as he stepped forward, and stopped when Dawn asked him that question again, if he could tell that she's lying.

"Tell them if I'm lying, ok?" she continued.

"Ok," Spike nodded his head.

"Willow, hyperspace exists," said Dawn as she looked at the redhead, "it's a region of subspace that some of the more advanced races have been using long before humanity, or at least your version of humanity, lived on this planet."

Dawn then looked at Spike and asked him if she was telling the truth.

"Yeah," replied the vampire.

"Giles" continued Dawn as she looked at the young boy who was about to ask Dawn a question when he heard her speak of their version of humanity, "humanity is older than you know. I know the history of this world. My ancestors, and technically your ancestors, came to this planet from another galaxy escaping genocide. They called themselves the Alterra and they travelled the universe for thousands of years before reaching this one, they called it Avalon.. and we call it the Milky Way… Spike, am I telling the truth so far?"

"Ummm…" said Spike with his eyes wide opened as the others looked at him, "umm.. yeah."

"Good" said Dawn, "They came to this galaxy more than fifty million years ago and used Earth as the capital of their empire. Thus Earth's ancient name, Terra. Who do you think it came from? Anyway, The Alterra colonised thousands of world through a device called Stargates allowing for instant transport from one planet to another. Then millions of years later… about ten million years ago from our perspective, a plague wiped out most of the Alterra; I mean some of the ascended to a higher plain of existence where they gained immense power and knowledge, but their laws were absolute… no interference as a higher being on the natural evolution of the lowers. That was them; the rest of the Alterra left the Milky Way for Pegasus Galaxy… Spike?"

"She's telling the truth," said Spike in disbelief.

"The Alterra seeded the Pegasus galaxy with humans" said Dawn, "they landed on a planet in their flying city, and called the planet Lantea."

"That Wraith called you a Lantean," said Xander.

"Yea," said Dawn as she looked at Xander before going deep in thought, calculating her year of birth according to Earth years, "by Earth years, I was born in the year 8039B.C."

"That's not possible" said Willow as she shook her head, "Dawnie, the Key's much older.. and you were created. I think I did something wrong and…"

"She's telling the truth" said Spike as he walked towards Dawn and put his hands on her shoulders, "I can hear her heartbeat, she's not lying."

"Or she thinks she's telling the truth," said Buffy before she looked at Willow, "Will, do something."

"Dawnie… I…" said Willow as she stepped forward with Spike gently pushing Dawn behind him, and then facing the others.

"Spike?" asked Willow.

"There's nothing wrong with her," said Spike as he looked at Willow, and then at Buffy, "she's your sister, Slayer."

"What she's saying isn't possible," said Buffy.

"We just fought an alien, Buff" said Xander.

'And we've got aliens bombing the world," said Faith, "I think 'not possible' shouldn't even be in our vocabulary anymore."

"And she smells like the same Dawn I've always known," said Oz.

"But her mind may have been…" said Willow.

"Buffy," said a frustrated Dawn as she stood next to Spike after telling him that she'd be alright, "that weapon in your hand… the Scythe. I know who created it.. I know why it was created. I'll tell you everything you need to know but I need you… you my sister to trust me. We don't do anything now.. this galaxy is dead… and it's not just Earth. Thousands of worlds are out there with human life.. thousands of worlds that the Wraith will feed on. They see any world that has technology as a threat, and…"

"We just launched nukes," said Faith.

"Oh dear God" said Dawn as she opened her eyes wide, "I.. They'll take this world and then spread like pests…. They'll grow.. they'll clone themselves.. grow more hive ships.. more.. and more, and more until…"

"Dawn" said Giles gently as he approached the brunette who was shaking while having a faraway look in her eyes, "slow down. You said other human worlds, what did you mean?"

"We fought the Wraith for thousands of years" said Dawn as she slowly calmed down while looking at Giles as she remembered the battles in the Lantean-Wraith War, "we were the most advanced race in Pegasus, they were nearly just as advanced.. but they had numbers on their side. We'd destroy fourteen of their ships with our drone weapons, and they would call on fifty more… destroy the Lantean warships. Millions die on both sides."

"Couldn't you guys have a neutral zone, or something?" asked Faith as Dawn looked at her, as did the others, curiously.

"Hey" said Faith, "I watch Star Trek, just so ya know."

"Sweet" said Andrew, "do you remember when…"

"No" said Dawn as she interrupted what Andrew was going to say; she knew that the people in front of her needed a quick explanation… she was afraid of how many people would die in the meantime, so she had to finish quick, "we didn't have a neutral zone. We sent our most powerful warships, and their escorts with a large delegation to talk truce with the Wraith. They were all murdered, and the Wraith stole the ships power sources. We sent retrieval teams and… and I lied so that I could get on one of the teams."

"Why?" asked Bay, who was holding on to Kelden.

"Despite everything that happened," said Dawn, "I believed there could be peace. I spoke to the Lantean Council and my father denied my request. But I did it anyway, I was so sure that a one to one conversation could lead to even a sliver of peace.. I thought I was right. But… I was wrong. They captured me, then they captured my sister when she and her team came to rescue me. My sister watched me die in front of her.. she survived though. Some Lanteans sabotaged the cloning facility and freed her. She brought my body back home, and the next day I was buried… and after my burial, my mother ascended me."

"There's no lie" said Spike as he looked at Buffy, "take it easy, Slayer. She's your sister."

"Are you?" asked Buffy as she looked at Dawn, "Dawnie, all this…"

"There's more" said Dawn, "but the more we wait here, the more humans will die."

Dawn then turned to Willow and asked her if she could get the Vampyre book from San Francisco. The brunette told Willow that the book cannot fall into the hands of the Wraith; she then told the redhead to contact all witches, and tell them to use whatever spells they had to hide their minds from telepathic attack. She told the group that the Wraith are all connected telepathically, and when Willow was about to interrupt… Dawn told her that the Wraith have been doing this for thousands of years; that the Wraith are masters at using telepathic attacks to trick humans.

Dawn then looked at Buffy and told her that she needed to talk to all the Slayers in one go, that despite everything.. the Slayers look up to her.

"You know they don't" said Buffy looking at Dawn, "not after what happened with the seed."

"Yeah" said Dawn, "I kinda have a theory on that.. but save that for later. Buffy, speak to the Slayers… when they fight the Wraith for the first time, they're gonna be scared… their fear is going to kill them."

"Five more are dead" said Willow as she closed her eyes, "I need to get there and…"

"Listen to me," said Dawn as Willow looked at the brunette, "Willow, contact the witches.. and then you connect Buffy to the Slayers. Buffy, tell them not to be afraid, tell them not to fear. The Wraith… the Wraith are nothing for a Slayer. Slayers have enhanced strength, enhanced speed, agility, durability, healing, and genetic memory… with a dash of demon. All done, except for the demon part that is, to fight the Wraith."

"What?" asked Giles, "Dawn, we saw… I mean Buffy saw how the First Slayer was created.. there's no alien…"

"Would you want to tell people the truth… would you want the ones who came after you to know how the Slayer was really created?" asked Dawn as Giles' eyes opened wide, as did Buffy's who was now looking at her Watcher. Dawn looked at all of them and told them that if they wanted to survive, they had to move now. She then looked at a confused Buffy, who was looking back at her, before walking towards her sister.

"I know it's hard to believe me," said Dawn gently as she reached for Buffy's hand, which the blonde Slayer pulled back as Dawn looked on sadly before she took a step back, and then looked at Willow. Her heart broke at the look of disbelief on the redhead, the same redhead who had once been her own sister before she voluntarily descended to help the Slayer fight the coming darkness in Sunnydale. She then looked at Vin, Sophie, Xander, Oz, Bay, Kelden, Faith, Giles, and finally at Spike, "I know it's hard for all of you to believe me; But I'm still Dawn.. I have the memories that the monks created, and I have my own memories.. my life before my death, my life when I was Ascended… although I don't have that knowledge. But the world needs saving, and that's what the Slayers do. This time we need Slayers, vampires, and even demons to work together. We stop these things now, here over this planet. We let even one hive ship go? And that's it… they'll lay low, create a cloning facility.. grow more ships.. clone more warriors. And then we die."

"Can't we just write something in the book?" asked Xander.

"What if we can't handle the backlash?" asked Giles as he fixed his glasses, "you know we've written new laws of magic very carefully; remember? The bigger the change, the worse the backlash. There's always a cost."

"Willow" said Dawn, "please, contact the witches, contact the Covens… tell them to be careful. If the Wraith take a witch prisoner after they see her, or his, powers… they'll break them telepathically. They'll know about magic and.. a Wraith with magic is not a scenario I want. Worse to worse, if they know about you…. then… I'm not losing you. Not you, and not Buffy. Tell the Slayers to be fearless… then after you do. I need a ride."

"To where?" asked Spike.

"We need to see how many ships we're facing," said Dawn, "the problem is that I don't know where the main outposts are.. I know where the labs are, but the ones with the chairs is… I didn't spend my time on Earth when I was ascended so I don't know. But for the ships in orbit? The only people I'd guess who has access to satellite images would be NASA.. and they'll have told the President everything by now. Will, I need you to take us to see the President… I have a feeling that we'll need him."

"But.." said Xander.

"I have more experience in dealing with the Wraith," said Dawn, "this isn't a game. The more we stay here, the more people die. I know there's no peace with them… so I'm gonna make sure they die here. Here, and now. Will you guys help me?"

"I'll go with you' said Spike as Dawn turned around and was about to shake her head before he stopped her, "you need someone to watch your back."

"I'll be with you as well," said Giles, "if what you say is true, then this is the most amazing archaeological discovery in human history."

"Trust me," said Dawn, "you ain't seen nothing yet."

Giles nodded his head as Xander walked up to Dawn and put his hands on her shoulders. The both of them just looked at each other, the one-eyed man noticing something different about the brunette before him. He then nodded his head and told Dawn that he'll go with her as well.

"I remember," said Dawn gently as she put her hand on his cheek, "I mean I still remember us. Give me some time, and… and we'll talk after all this is done?"

Xander nodded his head while Spike looked at Buffy.

"Slayer?" he asked.

"I…." said Buffy shaking her head, "I need to stay here."

"Buffy, Willow, Faith," said Dawn, "you guys are the strongest people we have right now. Will, I need you to contact the witches and the Slayers. Then teleport all of us out of here, and even Oz and his family. It's not safe here anymore."

"It's not safe, anywhere" said Oz, "we'll stay here, Dawn."

"You sure?" asked Dawn.

"Yea," said Oz nodding his head, "I'm sure."

"Oz," said Buffy, "you guys need to be kept safe too, at least for Kelden."

"We're not running," said Bay as she smiled.

"Will," said Dawn as she looked at the redhead, "Buff, Faith… we fight back now. We finish these monsters here."

TBC.

 


	5. Chapter 5

**Wraith Hive Ship, High Earth orbit.**

The last thing Amy Madison remembered as she checked her new surroundings were bolts of blue light falling from the night sky before they hit the nearby buildings of one of the many suburbs of Paris, the city where she was hiding out after the return of magic and the final death of her lover, Warren Mears. Ever since the return of magic, she had been trying to discover a new way to get back at Willow; first for having her friends rid the world of magic which led to the death of the aforementioned Warren Mears, and then it caused the cutting off her own powers from magic. Secondly, she could feel the magic returning to the Earth, but she also sensed a shift in the nature of magic that she still hadn't gotten used to yet. For the past few months since Magic returned, she had been experimenting on her own for the past few months on different spells that she could use to get back at the redhead.

And she had slowly managed to get a grip on her repowered magic.

Then came the first explosions in the distance; she looked out of the small apartment she shared with two other witches as blue fire fell from the skies and hit the ground. She looked in shock as more explosions erupted outward as the lights of the city started to go out.. then against the light caused by the explosions, Amy saw the distant Eiffel Tower itself get destroyed.. she could hear the screams of not only the people outside in other cells along the hallway, but from the two witches inside as they rushed for the television.

However, upon turning on the TV, it only showed snow on the screen as Paris' air raid sirens went off.. sirens that hadn't been heard for years while Amy and the other witches, as well as the humans in the apartment building rushed down the stairs with the building shaking from the tremors caused by explosions that seemed to be coming closer and closer. Amy recalled pushing through the panicked crowds as they all ran down flights of stairs while thinking to herself, 'what the hell did Willow do now?'

Amy heard buzzing sounds from above once she and the others had left the safety of the apartment building, and then there were more explosions in the distance along with small ships flying overhead firing at buildings.

"Get to safety, move it!" shouted Amy as she gathered magical energy in her hands; she knew that she may not have made the best choices in her life, but there was no way she'd pass up a chance to embarrass Willow by helping to stop a disaster that Amy thought the redhead caused. She knew that the Earth's magic had changed, and she hoped that she could do what needed to be done as four planes buzzed overhead with the witch raising her hands to fire off a magical blast of energy from her hands. However, it was all for naught as a beam from each of the four ships caused people to vanish. Amy was shocked for just a second, but that was enough for the beam to wash over her, and the other two witches next to her, while the others people around her were running away in panic.. or least trying to run away before they vanished into thin air after the beam washed over them.

Amy was awash with the white light when she was looking at the planes in shock; but now she found herself in a purple coloured cage. Amy lowered her hands with her eyes wide open as she took in her new surroundings; she saw what looked like some kind of organic material surrounding her before she looked at the nearly twenty people who were with her in the cage as well. She then looked at the other stunned witches who were her roommates, and then she looked at the cage door with looked like an ugly form of rotten Swiss cheese.. she could see a hallway beyond the door, and guessed the there was another hallway that led to her right containing more people.

She could hear people shouting from various other cells like the one she was in.

"Hello!" shouted a few of the people in her cell with panicked voices.

Amy could hear the voices of men, women, and children from behind her as they shouted for help when they heard a roar from an adjacent hallway. The group stepped back when a demon from a hallway a few feet down slammed a large muscular and masked creature into a wall before it rushed in and punched its fist through the masked creature's chest. Taking it's fist out of the chest of the, what Amy couldn't believe, alien creature.. the demon turned and bared it's sharp teeth at the group of twenty people inside the cage, and then looked at the other cages full of people before looking at Amy's group.

"Snacks," growled the demon as it ran towards the witch's group before it arched forward as six bolts of light hit its side from another side of their particular hallway. The humans then saw the demon enlarge slightly before roaring at the unseen assailants with Amy and the others not knowing who was going to be their saviour... or if they even were saviours. It was a few seconds later that they found out, when four of those masked, muscular creatures jumped onto the demon and pushed it back while two others stabbed through its thick hide with sharp spear-like weapons. Amy held on to the slimy Swiss chess like hardened gate that was keeping them inside and looked as the demon flung two of the creatures away with one blow, and then four of the other masked creatures smashed their sharp fingers and palms into the demon's body.

"Off!" screamed the demon as it thrashed about while the masked creatures held on for dear life.

It was a few minutes, Amy counted it as nearly two minutes before the demon seemed to slow down... it seemed to become lethargic. Amy looked on as she slowly moved away from the slimy gate with her hands by her side as the demon seemed to be in a dazed state while the masked creatures let go of it. The horned demon was now swiping its hand about weakly as the masked creatures just stood there looking at their hands, and then up at the demon. One of the creatures grabbed the demon by its neck and then slammed it onto the floor before another creature bent down and then twisted the demon's neck.. while the third one used the spear and cut off the demons head. Amy and the others looked silently at the brutality of what just happened; and then some of the women and children screamed.

"Scream, please," said a voice that was walking towards them from behind the four masked creatures. Amy saw the masked ones look behind them at a tall humanoid that was wearing a black jacket. She could see that he had a braided short beard, long hair, and blue eyes as he walked towards them after telling two of the masked creatures to take the ones who had fallen away; to take them to the queen so that they cold be materials for creating new warriors. Amy saw the creature's nod at the one in the black jacket, who Amy guessed was the leader as he walked towards them.

"Fear makes it more delicious for us," said the creature as he looked back at the one in the mask, and then looked again at the people in the cell while pointing behind him at the dead demon, "these things... mindless brutes that just came up with our cattle, are being exterminated on our ships. Their life force isn't as appetizing as humans, but it will do in giving a small boost for us."

"You're vampires?" asked Amy while the other humans behind her looked around in fear.

"What are vampires?" asked the creature in the black jacket as he looked at Amy while tilting his head.

"Creatures of darkness that'll kill you," said Amy before she raised her hands at the cell's organic looking gate, "and I'll introduce you to them when you take us out of here."

Amy called out to the other two witches behind her and told them which spell to perform while she was smirking at the alien creature, who looked confused at her while tilting his head to the other side.

"Let us go, or you die," said Amy while the other two witches stood at either side of her with their hands raised.

"Come then," said the one in the black jacket as six other masked creatures arrived behind him.

"Fine," said Amy as she said a spell out loud. She saw the alien creature's eyes open wide in surprise when magical energy gathered around Amy's hands, as well as the other witches hands when it suddenly fizzled out. Confused, Amy recited the spell out loud again as the magical energy gathered, and then fizzled out again. The blonde witch then looked at her hands, and then up at the one in the black jacket as his mouth formed into a grin.

"What the fuck?" asked Amy as the creature in the black jacket grabbed the spear-like weapon from the masked creature behind him, and then aimed it at Amy through the large gaps in the cell door. The next thing Amy knew, she was hit by a blue blast as her body went limp and she fell to the floor. Amy found that she couldn't move as she saw her fellow witches fall onto the floor as well. She then heard screams as the cage door opened with a swish before several feet walked by. Amy could only listen in horror as the screams went out one by one as dry husks that had once been living human bodies fell onto the floor.

And all Amy could do was watch; unable to scream, or move.

**Oz's Monastery, 2000 hours.**

Dawn couldn't believe what was happening as she stood outside the monastery doors with her arms folded over her chest as she looked up at the night sky. The brunette told the Scoobies everything they needed to know, but Buffy still insisted on having Willow magically check up on Dawn to make sure that the latter was alright; that there was nothing wrong with her. As she looked at the stars above, Dawn recalled telling Willow and the others that people were dying and that they were wasting time; it was something that Andrew, Spike, Giles, and Xander agreed with; and Dawn could see that Faith was on the fence. The brunette could tell that part of Faith believed Dawn and another part of her wanted to make sure that the brunette was really alright. Dawn then recalled looking at Oz, and Bay; but she couldn't tell from their expressions if they thought she was crazy or not.

'Willow, Buffy,' thought Dawn to herself as she looked down at the mountains in the distance, and rubbed her face with both of her hands while groaning in frustration at how stubborn her two sisters were being, 'hah, one doesn't even know she's my sister; yeah, her reaction's gonna be nuts if she ever finds out.'

Dawn knew that only ten minutes had gone since she stormed outside after the Scoobies, Vin, and Sophie, decided that they needed to deliberate over what Dawn had just told them. The brunette knew that it was a lot to get their heads around, but she hoped that an alien attack on the planet would mean that Dawn was right.

'Mother,' thought Dawn to herself as she recalled seeing Melina, her mother, back in San Francisco before she was pulled away by the mysterious woman. The same mysterious woman who appeared to the group when they first came to Tibet, 'I don't know who that woman was, but I hope you are alright. You tried to interfere and she pulled you away. I'm glad.. but.. but I need you. Please.'

Dawn looked around hoping that Melina would show herself, but she was standing all alone outside; all alone with her thoughts as she recalled what else had just happened.

"What the hell do you need to deliberate?" asked Dawn as she looked at Buffy a few minutes ago, "people are dying. This isn't some demon cult, Buffy. These are honest to goodness aliens; and yes, technically speaking I'm an alien too. But I'm still your sister, I have all of my memories of our childhood together, I have my original memories, and I have my ascended memories… well those are still coming into my head slowly.. but yeah… I'm still Dawn. And.. and I dealt with the Wraith… my people were massacred by the Wraith, and they'll do the same thing here in this galaxy."

"Dawnie," said Willow as she put her hands up and tried to calm the brunette down while the other two witches, Vin and Sophie could only look at each other confused, "maybe there's something wrong.. maybe you really believe that you're this other person.. I mean…"

"We… we need to talk about this," said Buffy as just stood in place while looking at Dawn, "Dawn, or.. whoever you are… I…"

"Whatever you wanna talk about," said Dawn shaking her head as she raised her hands up in frustration before she stormed out of the room they were in, "talk… but be quick about it. People are dying and there are things we need to do."

Back in the monastery, Buffy and Willow were arguing with Giles, Xander, and Spike on Dawn's claims while Faith, Vin, Sophie, Oz, Andrew, and Bay could only look on; Faith kept on shaking her head while rubbing her forehead at the ridiculousness of it all.

"Guys!" shouted Faith as Buffy and the others looked at her, "in case any of you forgot, we've got an end of the world situation going on out there. Who cares if Dawn says she is who she thinks she is, she's got knowledge about these things and hopefully enough to take them down. I don't know about you guys, but against those plasma things… how can a Slayer fight that without any intel? Intel's what we're missing and I think Dawn's telling us the truth. Why would she even joke about something like this?"

"She could just be thinking that she knows about them, Faith," said Willow calmly.

"You ran your magic tests on her, Will," said Xander, "you said there was nothing wrong."

"Not physically," said Willow as she looked at Xander, "Xand, the spell the monks used is powerful stuff, she may be imagining these things that she told us about. I mean coming from another galaxy? Hyperdrive? An intergalactic war? You know I love the whole science fiction stuff.. but these things, these Wraith, could have just come from another dimension. I mean think about it, we changed the fundamentals of magic, that's why the book was reset, and why we've been codifying new laws. And… and… and the whole thing with Dawn is just weird. Something's not right."

"I believe the nibblet, Slayer," said Spike as he looked at the blonde Slayer, "she was telling us the truth. We don't have time to play around with this."

"Let me play devil's advocate here," said Oz as he raised his hand, "what if she really believes what she's saying? And what if she's saying is wrong?"

"Do you really believe that, Oz?" asked Bay as she looked at her husband.

"She smells like the Dawn I know," replied Oz as he leaned against the wall while Bay stood next to him, holding Kelden in her arms, "but even if Spike can hear her heartbeat and she's telling the truth.. do we really know it's the truth? Or is it something that she only believes is the truth?"

"Slayer!"

Buffy and the others turned to one side to see a blue horned demon standing in one corner of the room. Oz pushed Bay and Kelden behind him while Buffy and the others sighed before telling Oz that it was alright, they knew the new arrival.

"D'Hoffryn," said Buffy as she shook her head, "now what?"

"In case you haven't realized," said the demon, the leader of the vengeance demons, "there is an alien attack upon this fair world. And you are here hiding?"

"More like regrouping," said Willow, "we were…"

"Scared?" said D'Hoffryn as he glared at Willow, "you're supposed to be the most powerful witch on this world and here you are hiding? In the meantime, some of my vengeance demons have claimed the lives of many of these alien beings; such stupid creatures."

"Can't you just create a temporal fold and, you know, prevent this attack from happening?" asked Vin, "I mean you can do that, right? You're the leader of the vengeance demons, D'Hoffryn.. you're supposed to be the powerful one."

"And do you know how these creatures came to this world?" asked D'Hoffryn as he looked at Vin, and then at Sophie, and then finally at Willow, "to change what happened, I need to know how they found this planet… do you know?"

"Dawn might," said Xander, "she told us…"

"Xander," said Buffy as she looked at her friend while shaking her head. In the meantime, the blue demon was looking around for the young brunette. When he didn't find her, he turned to Buffy and asked if she managed to get her sister out of San Francisco.

"She's outside," said Faith.

"I see," said D'Hoffryn with a knowing look in his eyes, "perhaps it is best if I hear what she has to say."

Buffy then looked at Faith and nodded her head; leading the dark haired Slayer to go outside the monastery where Dawn was standing with her back to Faith and looking at the star covered sky.

"Hey, munchkin," said Faith as Dawn looked over her shoulder, sighed, and then turned around and asked if they finally made a decision. Dawn then sighed after she heard Faith tell her that D'Hoffryn wanted to speak to her in regards to her knowledge about how the Wraith knew about the planet, "come on, kiddo."

"Yeah," said Dawn as she rushed up the stairs and walked through hallways alongside the Slayer.

"So," said Faith as they walked through another hallway, and towards an open doorway that led to a courtyard on the other side, "you were really born in another galaxy, huh?"

"Yea," said Dawn as they walked through the door into the courtyard before they walked to another door, "I know what I said was hard to believe, Faith. But we've got no time. Look, I'll prove to you something. Something that I know because I was there when it happened."

Dawn grabbed Faith's arm and stopped; the Slayer turning around so that they were face to face now.

"My ascended memories are coming back, I remember that when I was ascended," said Dawn, "I was watching over my sister as she grew up. I'd be hopping through galaxy's and then I'd come back… for us ascended beings it was an instant journey. This one night, my sister was studying at home, and I knew she'd be safe. So I travelled around Sunnydale looking for her friends."

"Her friends?" asked Faith before she shook her head, "wait…"

"Let me finish," said Dawn as she held Faith's hand, "please?"

Faith then nodded her head as Dawn continued.

"I came across you and Buffy fighting vampires in that dark alley," said Dawn.

"No," said Faith shaking her head, "you were at home. I know cause I met Buffy outside your house and…"

"And I was watching TV with mom," said Dawn as Faith nodded her head, "that was the fake memory. I remember studying too, but I also remember being there when you and Buffy killed those vampires. I was there when everything happened, Faith.. I saw everything and.. and it wasn't your fault."

"Dawn," said Faith as she closed her eyes and shook her head, "no.. you…"

"Separate tragic events came together one fateful night," said Dawn, "what happened was a tragedy, but it was an accident. I remember you put on such a brave face and…"

"You don't know what…"

"I know what I'm talking about, Faith," said Dawn as she held the Slayer's hand and started to walk again, "you were in so much anguish that when I think about it now… when I think about it, I get angry that the only place you were able to find peace was with the Mayor. I couldn't interfere in your life, but I hoped that things would change for you."

"They didn't," said Faith softly.

"I would sometimes come stand by your side," said Dawn, "for you to wake up."

"Things still went sideways for me," whispered Faith as they walked through the courtyard door and entered a hallway where at the end was a flickering light from the candles in the room. Faith and Dawn stopped moving, and looked at each other.

"You can't change what happened," said Dawn as she looked at Faith and put her hand on the Slayer's cheek, "everything that happened, happened in a time of war. I've seen war, Faith… I've seen people die; friends, men, women, and children… but I held on to the naïve hope that there could be peace with my people and the Wraith. Then I died in front of my sister. What I'm trying to say is that maybe if I recognized what happened in the past… that there could be no peace with the Wraith; then I wouldn't have gone to make a stab at peace. I could have returned to Earth with Athena, instead of her coming to this planet with only our father. You've been looking at your past as a burden.. it's not a burden Faith. You learn from the past and look to the future; that's one of the key's to ascension, forgoing your burdens. You'll remember what you did, but you have to move on and make sure it doesn't happen again."

"So let's make sure what happened to your galaxy, doesn't happen here," said Faith as she wiped her eyes, "and if you tell anyone I teared up, I will beat you silly."

"Got it," said Dawn as she and the dark haired Slayer rushed to the end of the hall, and then made a left into the room where the others were standing. Dawn couldn't help but look at D'Hoffryn with a raised eyebrow and her arms crossed over her chest.

"Ummmm.. hey," said Buffy as she looked at the expression that Dawn was giving the blue demon lord, "ummm.. D'Hoffryn wanted to ask you…"

"I see you have finally gotten back your light," said D'Hoffryn as he smiled and bowed his head slightly at Dawn while the others just looked at the both of them confused as D'Hoffryn looked back up while Dawn bowed her head slightly in respect as well before looking at the lower demon, "welcome back, Hera."

"Hera?" asked Vin, Sophie, Faith, and Willow together while looking at Dawn.

"That's her name," said D'Hoffryn while Dawn walked towards him.

"Hello, D'Hoffryn," said Dawn as she smirked at the demon, "I think the last time I saw you.. hold on… my memories a bit… ah. The last time I saw you was after the whole mess with Willow, after you tried to make her into your vengeance demon."

"Huh?" asked Willow as she looked at Dawn.

"And I haven't gone after her again, as we agreed," said D'Hoffryn, "just like I haven't revealed the truth when I met you and your sister after your descension to this plain of existence."

"Wait.. wait, wait," said Buffy as Dawn and D'Hoffryn looked at her and the others, "the both of you know each other.. I mean of course you know each other, but what I mean is… umm… someone help?"

"That was the first time we met," said Dawn as she looked at Willow, and then at Buffy, "I was by Willow's side after the whole wishing spell incident when she was taken. I went to Arashmaharr where D'Hoffryn tried to convince Willow to join his vengeance demons; but we all know she refused and was sent back. So I made myself appear to him after she was gone."

"Ah, yes," said D'Hoffryn as he put his hands together, "such anger from you… I remember."

"And then you hit on me," said Dawn as everyone turned to D'Hoffryn with their mouths open, "and then when my mother came to look for me since she sensed me leaving the dimension, you hit on her too… with me right there."

"Oh," said Giles as he took off his glasses and wiped them on his shirt while Faith sniggered.

"That's.. cold?" asked Xander.

"Weird," said Andrew.

"Gross," replied Vin and Sophie as they made faces of disgust.

"Uh huh," replied a still stunned Buffy, "ewww."

"As I was saying," said D'Hoffryn who quickly changed the subject after noticing the looks he was getting from everyone, "I was asked to create a temporal fold. I require the precise instance these things found out about this planet."

"I don't know," said Dawn shrugging her shoulders, "you can use your vengeance demons."

"They are attacking the creatures that attack them," said D'Hoffryn, "my demons are not here to save the human race. Did you know that my vengeance demons have already received multiple requests for vengeance on other humans? That's the human race for you, even when the world burns around them… they still want vengeance against their own."

"Then I wish that the Wraith vanish from this Earth, and from the orbit of this planet and they burn in the sun," said Willow.

"Done," said D'Hoffryn with a smile, "but only the ones on the planet's surface have been taken care off. They should be in space right now falling into the sun; but there is nothing I can do about the ones in the ships that orbit this world."

"Wait, why?" asked Willow, "I…"

"The one thing that hasn't changed about Magic is that there are limitations," said D'Hoffryn, "why do you think my vengeance demons do not want to go on those ships? The magic present on this planet; it's the strongest for those on the surface. Vengeance demons, witches, warlocks.. all use magic to do their battles. Of course my demons are immortal and much, much stronger that these Wraith… but they will not be able to perform magic up there."

"Excuse me?" asked Vin shaking her head while Giles listened intrigued, "that's not possible. Earth is…"

"Earth isn't the only planet with magic," said Dawn as she looked at Giles while remembering aspects of her ascended life, and then at D'Hoffryn, "I've been to worlds… worlds teeming with life that have variations of mystical energy. But that magic has a limit."

"Think of magic like the air you breathe," said D'Hoffryn, "the higher you go up into the atmosphere.. the thinner the air. Eventually you run out of air, and you suffocate to death; it is the same with magic. Whatever magic remains that high up will not help any witch if they have been captured."

"That can't be," said Buffy waving her hands, "when the whole Twilight thing happened, me and Angel got stronger and stronger. We could even fly up into space without any problems and…"

"Twilight was a new dimension seeking to enter into this one, and then supplant it," said D'Hoffryn, "it wanted to destroy this dimension; so the universe used what the kids these days call a cheat code. You and the vampire were given extraordinary powers to battle each other; to kill each other. But instead you brought about the apocalypse.. nearly. But then again you prevented that apocalypse, Slayer, by bringing about another apocalypse."

"The end of magic," said Buffy.

"With the threat of Twilight no more, the universe took back its gift," said D'Hoffryn, "and that will not happen a second time. Get your acts together, Slayers. While business is brisk… I still like this world and the humans in it for the brisk business it provides."

D'Hoffryn then turned to Dawn and was about to open his mouth when the brunette told him not to even say a single word.

"Say hello to your mother," said D'Hoffryn with a smirk as he bowed his head in respect, as did Dawn, "may her beauty be forever."

"Oh, you know it is," said Dawn as the demon vanished, "and, ewww."

Dawn then sighed before she looked at the faces who were looking back at her in surprise; and before anyone of them could ask a single question, Dawn told them that no more wasting time.

"Either you guys help me," said Dawn before she looked at Willow, "or I go on my own."

"Dawn," said Giles as he walked towards her, "in that vision I had, you said you were a god as well… and…"

"Giles," said Dawn as she looked at Giles for a few seconds before she looked at Willow and Buffy, "please, I'll tell you whatever you need to know when we get going. Willow, Buff… please… contact the witches, covens, and the Slayers. Please."

Dawn gave a small smile as Willow, and Buffy nodded their heads.

"And Oz," said Dawn as she looked at the man and his wife, and then at Kelden, "I want you three to come with us, and…"

"We don't want to run, Dawn," said Oz.

"For your son, Oz," said Dawn, "please."

**White House, Washington D.C, underground bunker; at that same time.**

Kennedy was with some of her people from Deepscan for an appointment with President Henry Hayes in the early morning hours of Washington D.C. She and her team of seven Slayers were to make a presentation to the President himself on the good work that Deepscan had done in protecting several businessmen, Congressmen, and even senators; and she was going to pitch that some members of her organization be embedded within the Secret Service so that there could provide an extra layer of protection for the President himself.

It was hours later, while the President and the slayers from Deepscan were having their meeting, that the attack began. As Kennedy stood helplessly in the bunker with her Slayers, she hoped that the ones who were still protecting their targets in D.C, and around the U.S were doing what they could to save as many people as possible. The dark haired slayer's thoughts went back to her ex-girlfriend, Willow, and she feared for the redhead when news came through that San Francisco was attacked. She remembered mentally contacting the redhead but there was no response, and she feared the worst.

She still feared the worst.

She looked around the bunker at the hive of monitors and the fourteen people in the room she and three of her Slayers were holed up in; while there were other personnel in different areas of the nearly two mile long presidential bunker under the White House. The President had been in this particular room earlier while Kennedy stood to one side as they looked at satellite images of ships in space.. it was something that she still couldn't believe even though she too saw the pictures of gigantic ships in space.

And then the lines from NASA and NORAD were gone.

The last she heard was that, unbelievable as it sounded, Area 51 was destroyed… it was the first to be attacked.. followed by major cities around the world starting with the U.S. They knew that the ships were heading for Europe when all communications went down; and the President lost contact with all U.S military forces.

The President then ordered that they pull up whatever they could from the underground hardline that connected the bunker to the Pentagon; and then he ordered that a message be sent somehow to authorise the launch of nuclear weapons to whatever was shooting at them from orbit.

However nothing worked, not even the nuclear weapons that he had authorized launched through the use of Morse code.

Kennedy still felt the bunker tremble from the weapons fire, and her heart pained when she thought about her Slayers… and when she thought about what could have happened to Willow. She wanted to be out there in the fight, but the bunker was sealed and no one was allowed in or out.. not even the President.

And not even order could open the doors in the bunker, at least not until a signal was given that everything was safe.

At the helplessness of it all, Kennedy could only shed a tear before she wiped it away.

As soon as she wiped away the tear, she heard a buzzing sound in her ear. Kennedy scratched her ear and thought that she was the only one hearing it, so she looked to her left and saw the three more Slayer doing the same thing. A few seconds later, her heart jumped as she heard Buffy's voice.

"Someone get me the President, now!" shouted Kennedy as she stood up from where she was sitting and looked at one of the soldiers in the room, "quick.. go… move. This is urgent."

When the young man left, Kennedy looked at her Slayers with a smile on her face as Buffy started to speak. When she looked around the room as Buffy's voice came on in their minds, Kennedy found that only they could hear the blonde Slayer.

"This is Buffy… Buffy Summers to all Slayers," she said as the other three Slayers ran into the room asking if they could hear Buffy in their heads. It was something that made the other personnel look at the seven Slayers with concern, but it was Kennedy who told them that they were being contacted by magic. When she saw some of the disbelief in the eyes of the military personnel, she narrowed her eyes and told them that they were being attacked by an alien force.

"Magic? Not a big jump," said Kennedy before telling the others to quieten down, that they needed to hear what Buffy had to say.

"I know that many of you don't trust me," said Buffy's voice as all sixteen hundred Slayers around the world took cover and listened in, "I know that many of you don't like me, but what we're facing now is something that's never happened before. In case you haven't noticed, this is an attack by a technologically advanced race of aliens called the Wraith. Think space vampires; they feed on human life forces.. actually they may be able to feed on any life force. I'm guessing that many of you have faced them.. and I know some of us have died. But we will mourn them after we kick these things off our planet. Don't fear them; we will go out and fight them… we fight smart; we win. I just found out that the Slayers were originally created to fight this threat, this is our job. This is what we do.. what we were called to do. There's not much time for explanations right now, but once this is done… all of us will know what we need to know. Right now? Don't show these things fear; even if they start feeding on you, I want you all to continue fighting. We're strong.. we're so strong, but we're afraid. I was so afraid of these things… and I guess I still fear them. But you know what? I'm heading back out, and I'll show them what a Slayer really is. I'll push my fear down, use it as my strength and I'll fight them. I want you all to do the same, watch each other's backs… protect who you can… and kill as many of these bastards as possible. Fight them… kill them… do what we do best. Slay."

The message went out just as the President walked into the room. It was at that point in time that Kennedy felt the hairs of the back of her neck stand up, followed by goosebumbs on the young woman's arms.

'Teleportation' thought Kennedy to herself, and her heart jumped again when she recognized the sensation.

"Mr. President," said Kennedy just as there was a bright blue flash in one side of the room which led to the President's secret service detail, as well as the rest of the fourteen military personnel pulling out their weapons at the blue light which was about to fade just as Kennedy shouted at the top of her lungs that they were friendly's.

It was too late as the personnel started to open fire at the intruders.

'Stop!" shouted Kennedy as the rounds fired by the weapon hit an orange barrier that flickered but held steady at the weapon impacts.

"We have children here," shouted a familiar voice, "stop firing."

"Hold fire!" shouted the President, "hold all fire, weapons down.. weapons down."

"We're friends, we're friends," said a slightly shaken Willow as the weapons were put down and she dropped the shield just as Kennedy ran around the President's secret service detail, and hugged the redhead; giving her a deep kiss while the others just looked around nervously as the kiss continued. It was the President's cough that made Willow and Kennedy break apart before the dark haired Slayer introduced Buffy and the others, at least the ones she knew… and she was shocked at what happened to Andrew who was taken to a seat. It was Buffy who then introduced Vin and Sophie.

"I know who you are, Miss Summers," said President Hayes as he nodded his head at Buffy.

"I guess you do, huh?" said Buffy.

"Yes," replied the President as he looked at the others behind her, and then at Andrew who was being helped onto a seat, "you've brought some friends and…. ummm… why do you have a baby and a child? And an old man?"

"Given what's going on out there," said Buffy as she looked at Dawn, before she looked at the President again, "my…. Umm… sister… wanted to speak to you."

"Mr. President," said Dawn as she put her hand on Buffy's shoulder and looked at the blonde Slayer. Dawn knew that this was something that Buffy would be able to be handle given time, but with the avalanche of information that she and the others were presented with… the brunette didn't blame her sister for having suspicions; however, it still hurt. Dawn then looked at the President and introduced herself as Dawn Summers, "umm… and I have information of those ships."

"Ok," said the President as the others, including the Slayers from Deepscan looked at each other nervously before looking at Dawn, "what do you know, wait.. actually a better question would be how do you know?"

"It's a doozy," said Buffy softly.

"You know about demons? Vampires?" asked Dawn.

"Yes," said President Hayes, "and now I know about aliens; and you just told me you have information."

"Long story short?" said Dawn as the President nodded his head, "there are other technologically advanced races out there; some are peaceful, others want to conquer. In the case of the Wraith, they see humans as cattle… they feed on life-force; and it's that life-force that nourishes them. Mr. President, the Wraith are nearly invulnerable as long as they feed… we're talking about a nearly immortal race that will live as long as they feed. They were never meant to find this galaxy; and they must not leave orbit of this planet."

'Why?" asked Kennedy, "Dawn, they're killing people.. I mean I they suck the life force of people, then we need them out of here and…"

"Then you leave millions of other humans at their mercy," said Dawn as she looked at Kennedy, "you think you're alone in the galaxy? Maybe it's just that we're so backward that advanced races don't want to make contact with us."

"Miss Summers," said the President, "you're not making sense."

"I'm not originally from this planet," said Dawn as the President looked at Dawn while the security detail raised their weapons at her, while Spike stood in front of Dawn telling them to lower their weapons.

"Dawn," said Kennedy, "you're the Key. You… from what I've been told.. you never existed in the first place."

"It seems we were wrong," said Giles as Kennedy looked at him confused.

"Mr. President," said Dawn as she put her hand on Spike's shoulder, the bleached haired male turned and told Dawn he'll have her back.

"I know," said Dawn as she smiled at Spike before he slowly turned around and stood to one side. Dawn then looked at the President and told him everything she had told the Scoobies earlier. The stunned room looked at Dawn as she finished talking a few minutes later, "my people were the most technologically advanced race in Pegasus. And we lost. They had greater numbers thanks to cloning facilities on other planets. We can't let them get out of Earth orbit.. trust me. I am the last living Lantean. I know what they are capable of doing to this planet; and after they're done.. they'll move on to other feeding grounds."

"We'll launch the rest of our nuclear and conventional arsenal," said the President as he turned to the personnel in the room, and was about to say something when Dawn stopped him.

"The Wraith know the weapons you have," said Dawn as the President looked at her, "they annihilate worlds that have advanced technology… and we've already fired nuclear weapons. They'll hit harder and harder… even if a billion people die, they have six billion more that they could use as food and breeding stock."

"Then how do we fight," asked the President, his voice suddenly tired.

"My people were once in an alliance with four other races," said Dawn, "I'll call them but… but I need to see a map of the country so that I can find the closest outpost, and I need to see any pictures of the ships in orbit; I need to see what we're up against. Anything you have… even if it's blurry."

"Do it," said the President as he nodded at the people at the monitor banks while another man headed to a desk and grabbed some pictures and then handed them to the President. The President then handed the pictures to Dawn who, along with the other recently arrived Scoobies, saw the pictures of the ships for the first time. While Buffy and the others looked on amazed at the clarity of the pictures… Dawn just looked at the picture in her hand with a look of confusion on her face.

"Is this scale in the corner of the picture correct?" she asked as she looked at the picture, and then at the President who nodded his head before asking her if it was important. Dawn handed the picture to Giles while she rubbed her face in worry while mumbling to herself that 'it wasn't possible.'

"Dawn?" asked Xander as he gently held her arm.

"Dawn?" asked Oz.

"What's not possible?" asked Bay who was holding on to Kelden, "what's going on? You saw the pictures and then… well, you changed. Your expression changed."

"The ships are too big," said Dawn as she leaned against the wall.. her face showing her worry, "the Hiveships and the cruisers… they're too big.. too big. I've… I've never seen them this big."

Xander wanted to lighten the mood of the room by telling a joke, but the expression of worry on Dawn's face told him not to say a word. Instead he put an arm around Dawn's shoulders and asked her gently what she meant by they were too big.

Dawn then told the group that all Lanteans know that Wraith ships are grown to a certain size since they can't grow larger than that or else the ship will break apart, or it won't be able to be piloted properly; nor would it be able to go into hyperspace. Dawn continued before anyone else could interfere and told them that the hulls of the ships had regenerative capabilities, and that the last time she checked on the Wraith.. they had no intergalactic Hyperdrive.

"How did they get that big?" said Dawn as she looked at Xander, who looked back at her, "they need power to get that big.. they need massive amounts of power to… Oh God.. power. They found power."

"Miss. Summers?" asked the President, "what are you talking about."

"How many ships?" asked Dawn, "total? How.. how many?"

"Twenty four of the larger ships, unknown number of the alien planes before all satellites went out" said one of the personnel who was looking back at Dawn, intrigued about what she was talking about.

"Twenty four ships," mumbled Dawn, "twenty four Potentia."

"Potentia?" asked Faith.

"Power sources," said Dawn as she looked Xander, Faith, and then at Willow, Vin, Sophie, and Buffy, "think the power of an entire universe… a pocket of subspace time in a canister the size of a small bag."

"Goddess," said Willow shaking her head, still not believing what she was hearing, "Dawnie.. that's… you're talking about something impossible and… kinda like zero-point energy and… I mean… Dawn?"

"But to… no.." mumbled Dawn to herself as she ignored Willow, "their ships are organic so to adapt the potentia as a power source, they needed a few years. They've been getting ready for years, and then they somehow got intergalactic Hyperdrive?"

"Dawn," said Willow as the brunette kept on mumbling.

"How did they get intergalactic… oh… they salvaged old ships?" mumbled Dawn.

"Dawn!" said Buffy as she put her hand on her sister's shoulder, and Dawn looked up at Buffy's eyes, "I need you to spell it out for us."

"Their armour… the ship's hull is being powered by a very powerful source of energy, Buffy," said Dawn, "you can fire any number of nukes, even magically enhanced nukes but… but I don't know. Before I was born, there was an incident when Lantea's sun shot out a mass coronal ejection… and the shield surrounding my home was extended to shield three quarters of the entire planet; and we survived. Some wildlife died instantly, but the vast majority survived."

"Are you serious?" asked Willow, "a coronal mass ejection? Dawnie? Do you know what you're saying?"

"That kind of power is powering the Hive ships and cruisers," said Dawn, "their hulls are gonna be thick and able to regenerate much faster than normal. I.."

Dawn then closed her eyes and took a deep breath before opening them again.

"Mr. President," said Dawn calmly as she thought about a plan, "could I take a look at the map of the States?"

"Here," said one of the personnel at the monitors who pulled up a map on the screen, "since our satellite feeds are all gone, this is the latest on file at the Pentagon archives."

"When was this taken?" asked Dawn as she rushed down the stairs to stand behind the young man while the President was whispering something to Kennedy, and then to Buffy.

"Yesterday," said the man as Dawn pointed at an area and asked him to zoom in. She asked the man to keep on zooming in until Dawn asked him to stop, and then turned around and called for Willow.

"Can you teleport me there?" asked Dawn as she looked at Willow, and then turned to the screen and pointed at a location that was two miles away from the Sunnydale Crater; something that made Willow looked at Dawn with confusion etched on her face, "please, Willow. I can prove to you everything I said was true.. I can prove to you, Buffy, Faith… please. This is important, I… I don't remember if the Stargate on Earth was found and we don't have time to look for it. So… please. Trust me."

"Buffy?" said Willow as Buffy walked down the stairs with Kennedy before telling them where Dawn wanted her to take them.

"Why the Sunnydale, desert?" asked Buffy as she looked at Dawn.

"I have to show you," said Dawn, "but you have to go out there and fight, and survive. Buffy… I'm gonna call for help. If the allies I was talking about can't help us, then I need to just ask them for a lift. I'm thinking worst case scenario, if they can't help.. then the only way that I can find the advanced weapons we need is in Pegasus. I'll be back in two days, I promise you. But I need you guys to fight, and I need you guys to survive."

"Dawn," said Buffy, "I… I know that…listen, all of this is just so confusing and.."

"I'm still Dawn," said the brunette as she held Buffy's hand, and this time she was happy that the blonde Slayer didn't take her hands away, "and I'll be back. I promise."

"Ok," said Buffy nodding her head, "but I'm going with you to Sunnydale."

"Don't forget, Dawn," said Giles, "I will be accompanying you as well."

"Me too, Dawn," said Xander.

"And me too, nibblet," said Spike, "and I'm not hearing any no from you."

"Ok," said Dawn nodding her head before looking at Oz, and Bay who was carrying Kelden, "Oz, Bay, and Kelden too."

They nodded their head as Dawn then turned to Willow.

"Willow," said Dawn nodding her head was the others stood close to the redhead. Dawn then looked at the President and told him that they should continue fighting, and asked him not to launch anymore nuclear weapons in case the Wraith detect them and destroy their silo's, "there'll be a time to use them. In the meantime, I'll get us some allies and then return. I'll bring hope, Mr. President."

"I'll be back, Faith," said Willow as the dark haired Slayer nodded her head.

"Good luck," said Andrew as Dawn waved at him, and smiled. Vin and Sophie then said that they weren't sure if what Dawn was saying was the absolute truth, but given that there was no other option to get rid of the ships in orbit; they told Dawn to be careful, and to return quickly.

"Hey, kid," said Faith as she looked at Dawn, who had just nodded her head at the Fairweathers, before walking over to her and giving her a tight hug, much to the surprise of Buffy and Willow, "come back safe alright? I wanna hear stories."

"Alright," said Dawn as she closed her eyes and held Faith tight, "don't die."

"You kidding me?" asked Faith, "with all you're gonna show me? I'll be staying alive."

**Two miles away from the Sunnydale crater, twenty minutes after initial arrival at the presidential bunker.**

The sun was low in the Sunnydale desert when suddenly there was a flash of green light and six people materialised with Spike immediately putting his black jacket over his head and shouted at Dawn to find some kind of shelter for them.

"You didn't have to come!" shouted Dawn back with a grin as she went on her hands and knees and swept the sand away from the surface while mumbling to herself, "where are you… where are you? I saw Athena use the column here somewhere to access the outpost and… aha!"

Dawn found a section of the ground that was smoother than the others and stood up. She told the others to gather around her as she bent down and put her hand on the smooth surface on a section of the ground. She then took a step back as a cream coloured control console with shining blue accents rose to the surface while Buffy and Willow looked at each other, and then at Dawn who turned to face them.

"I need you guys to go back to the bunker," said Dawn, "once we're on board the ally's ship, I'll send you a message. The two days start from then."

"O..k" said Willow, "how are you gonna send a message?"

"I'm not sure," said Dawn, "but these guys are…

"Hey! I'm barbequing here!" screamed Spike.

"I'll see you soon, Buff… Will, kill as many as you can.. show them no mercy" said Dawn, "listen, there's one important thing I forgot to mention. Something you need to tell the other Slayers and witches, since the Wraith feed on life forces… the only creatures truly immune are vampires."

"Because they're dead," said Buffy as Dawn nodded her head.

"The Wraith blasters don't kill, at least not at the setting that they usually keep it," said Dawn, "they feed on humans, so it makes no sense to kill their prey before they feed. The Wraith blasters immobilize humans.. anything that's alive gets immobilized for easier feeding. The Slayers need to work with vampires, but don't tell vampires about the Wraith weapons. If they learn to use them, then that's a while new slew of problems."

"I'll tell them," said Willow nodding her head.

"And I wanted lying about the Slayers, Buffy," said Dawn as she looked at her blonde haired sister, "and no matter what you think of me, I'm your sister… I just have memories of my life before I became teh vessel for the Key."

"Dawnie," said Buffy as she walked forward and held Dawn's hand, "this.. this is all so…"

"Big?" asked Dawn.

"Yea," replied Buffy, "I.. I sometimes don't know what to thinks and.. and I know you're still Dawn. You look like Dawn, and…"

"I wanna tell you everything," said Dawn as she held Buffy's hand, "I've seen so many things Buffy; and I wanna tell you.. I wanna tell Willow and Xander, and Giles.. but we'll win, and then talk over cocoa?"

"Yeah," said Buffy as Dawn let go of her hands and stepped back.

"I'll see you guys soon," Dawn said before she turned around and asked the others to hold on to her.

Buffy and Willow watched Dawn place her hand on the top of the column which looked similar to the ground around them; however, once Dawn touched the top section of the column, there was a blinding flash of white light and Dawn, Spike, Xander, Giles, and Oz's family vanished before the column retracted back into the ground.

"Will," said Buffy as she held the redhead's hand, "she'll be safe, right?"

"Yeah," said Willow as she looked at her best friend with eyes wide open, "she's an alien… how cool is that?"

"I… I wanna tell her I'm sorry," said Buffy as she felt a pain in her chest, "Will?"

"Let's get going,' said Willow, "when she sends a message, maybe there'll be a way to send her a message back."

"I hope so, Will," replied Buffy as the both of them vanished in a flash of green and blue light.

**Sunnydale Outpost; a few seconds later.**

Dawn, Giles, Xander, Spike, Oz, Bay and Kelden soon found themselves in the dark with Kelden crying at the lack of light. Smiling, Dawn took a step forward and in response.. the lights around the room they were in lit up automatically towards a doorway, and then the room beyond the doorway lit up. Dawn looked back at the suddenly quiet Kelden as he looked around with his mouth open, as did Giles, Bay, and Xander.. while Spike, and Oz seemed to be playing it cool. Dawn smiled as she turned around and then walked into the other room and headed to the large Ancient console on one end of the room that was facing a screen.

In the meantime, Giles and the others walked into the large room, and the first thing they noticed was the burnt shards of crystals that were all over the floor. They saw a pedestal in the corner that had a side panel opened and the insides all burnt out. They then walked toward a screen, and two handlebar like devices on the wall which had been destroyed beyond repair as well. They then, once again, turned towards Dawn who had pressed a button on the sides of a large console. They then watched as a screen in front of her activated, and rows and columns of symbols appeared on screen.

Giles stood next to Dawn at the pedestal while Xander and Spike on her left side, Oz was behind Giles, while Bay was behind Dawn and occasionally looking behind her at the destruction around her, and then she looked at Dawn.

"What happened here, Dawn?" asked Bay.

"My sister used this outpost, and four others to create… create clones," said Dawn as Giles watched her push a column down as another one rose up, "it's a long story but.. but she was betrayed, and thirty thousand people lost their lives."

"Oh," said Bay as she looked at Oz, and then at Spike who was looking concerned.

"Dawn?" asked Spike, "what do you mean thirty thousand people lost their lives? What happened here?"

"There are things that no one knows, Spike," said Dawn as she looked at the man with a look of sadness in her eyes as she remembered the happiness that was taken away from Athena, "and this isn't the right time. I'll explain everything later, after we get rid of the Wraith. Please?"

"OK," said Spike.

"These symbols," said Giles as he pointed at the symbol on top of the columns that made up the console, and then at the symbols on the screen, "I don't recognize any of them."

"It's Lantean," said Dawn, "got the language back when I got back my memories."

"I see," said Giles as he looked at the symbols again.

"I'll teach you," said Dawn as she looked at Giles, and smiled before she looked at the columns on the console again, and then looked at the screen.

"What're you doing?" asked Xander as he looked at the screen, and then at Dawn's face, "Dawnie?"

"The Alliance had emergency subspace frequencies," said Dawn as she looked at Xander, and then at the console and pressed down on another column, and then smiled before looking at the one eyes man, "I'm searching for the preset frequencies and…. and we found one."

"Cool," said Oz.

"So subspace is real then?" asked Xander.

"Uh huh," said Dawn as she smiles and pressed a button on the side of the console and spoke out loud.

"This is a request for aid on an Alliance priority emergency channel," said Dawn as Xander stood by the brunette, as did the others in anticipation of the response that they may receive from another alien race, "my name is Dawn Summers of Earth. I am also known as Hera Ren, daughter of Moros; he was one of the founders of the Alliance of Four Great Races. I am calling from Earth asking for aid, we are under attack by a race from the Pegasus galaxy called the Wraith. If left to run unchecked.. they would decimate this galaxy; once Earth has been destroyed, they will attack teh other human occupied worlds. Please, help us."

"That's it?" asked Xander as Dawn released the button she was holding.

'Yea," replied the brunette, "now we wait for a response, and…"

It was almost immediately that the screen beeped and the view changed from rows and columns of Lantean symbols, to a grey alien that was looking at them from a room that contained screens on the walls in the background.

"Oh dear lord," said Giles as he looked at the face of the alien on the screen.

"Oh," said Spike.

"My," said Xander as he grabbed Dawn's shoulder and squeezed.

"God," said Oz as Bay held on to him while Kelden looked at the alien and then reached out with his hands and laughed.

"Greetings, Hera Ren," said the alien while the others could only watch with their mouths hanging open.

"Willow's gonna hate all of us," mumbled Xander.

"I am Thor, Supreme Commander of the Asgard fleet."

"Thor?" asked Giles as he looked at Dawn who put a hand on the young boy's shoulder and squeezed slightly.

"Greetings Supreme Commander," said Dawn as she nodded her head while Giles looked back at the image of the grey alien on the screen, "please tell me that you could help us. I have no idea how the Wraith got from Pegasus to the Milky Way, but they need to be defeated here. Is there anything the Asgard could do?"

"I am sorry," said Thor as everyone's faces dropped, "Hera, we are losing a war on two fronts; one is against a race of mechanical beings called the replicators, and the other war is against a degenerating disease that is killing us. In either case, we are unable to spare any ship on a protracted war on a third front due to the loss of many of our kind."

"The Nox?' asked Dawn.

"The Nox live in isolation," said Thor shaking his head, "the Furlings have left this galaxy, and as you know.. the Ancients have ascended. I knew your father, Hera. He spoke of you fondly, you and Athena."

"He spoke of you as well after he ascended," said Dawn who was aware that the people around her was feeling down due to the refusal of the Asgard, so she decided to sweeten the pot, "Supreme Commander, I'm not sure if you are aware but the replicators originated in Pegasus; and as for the disease that is infecting your people, my sister was one of the leading geneticists of my home."

"As your father has said once before," said Thor, "I had hoped to meet her to exchange ideas on a possible cure for this disease, and a way to reverse it completely."

"Supreme Commander," said Dawn, "I'm offering you information in exchange for you help. I'm offering you, and the Asgard access to the Lantean database in Pegasus."

"The city?" asked Thor.

"I need to make a stop to retrieve a potentia," said Dawn, "but following that, I ask for passage to Pegasus and help in defeating the Wraith that are attacking Earth. And as the last living Lantean; I will give you authorization to access the database in my home… on Atlantis."

"Dawn?" asked Giles while Oz and Bay looked at each other surprised, as did Spike and Xander before they all turned to Dawn who looked back at them.

"The ship that took the surviving Alterra from this galaxy was Atlantis," said Dawn, "I was born on Atlantis more than ten thousand years ago, and now it's lying at the bottom of Lantea's ocean. Just waiting to be rediscovered again… waiting for her people to come home."

"Oh dear lord," said Giles.

"That's the second time he said that," said Xander as he looked at Dawn, "Atlantis?"

"You wanna see her?' asked Dawn as she looked at Xander, and then at the others.

'Yeah," said Xander excitedly.

"Same here, lil'bit," said Spike.

"Miss a chance to tell those snobs at Oxford that Atlantis exists?" asked Giles, "no way.. I'm still going with you."

"Oz?" asked Dawn, "you guys are free to come to Atlantis if you want, or I can drop you off at the world I need to stop at first to collect a power source."

"Oh I'm going to Atlantis," said Bay with a grin on her face.

"The wife said it," said Oz with a smirk and a shrug of his shoulders.

"Supreme Commander?" asked Dawn as she turned to the screen, "access to the Atlantis database in exchange for your help in fighting off these things."

"I am in agreement," said Thor nodding his head while Dawn smiled, "I will be at your location in three minutes."

"Thor," said Dawn, "our pick up has to be quick. We'll be at these coordinates. And.. and once you come out of hyperspace, put your shields to full power.. your weapons too. These are Potentia powered ships, so they are very dangerous."

"Understood," said Thor, "I will be at your location in three minutes."

"I'm going home," said Dawn as the screen turned off and she looked at Xander with a smile, "I'm finally going home."

TBC.

 


	6. Chapter 6

**High Earth Orbit, Wraith Hiveship, 1700 hours (Sunnydale Time; three minutes to Asgard pick-up.)**

Amy Madison and two of her roommates had just boarded another vessel that the aliens who were surrounding them called a Hiveship. Getting out of the Wraith Transport vessel from the Hiveship they were on earlier; Amy and the others, who were stunned when they saw that they were in high Earth orbit, looked at the massive cavernous hanger bay before they looked at each other in fear as they went pushed through another hallway. They continued to walk with guards alongside, and behind them while the creature in the black jacket led them through the corridors. It wasn't too long before the three witches were brought to another large room that was dimly lit. Amy and the others waited for their eyes to adjust, and when they did... the three witches were greeted with the sight of a large chair in the middle of the room with a dim, blue light shining down on it. Seated on the chair was a creature that the humans from Earth believed to be a woman; she had long dark hair, black tattoos alongside her face that went down to her neck, and she was wearing what looked like a tight leather dress, and leather pants. Standing next to her were several of the masked creatures, some humans in tanned clothes that Amy didn't recognize, was attending to her before the creature looked up at the three women, and then waved at the humans in tanned clothes to leave.

"Keeper," said the creature who was sitting on the chair as she looked over her shoulder at a shadow in the rear of the room. The three young woman then gasped as a pale-skinned woman in a white dress with long red hair walked out of the shadow's and stood next to the one who was seated down.

"These are the three I was told about?" said the creature who was sitting down on the elaborately carved seat as she looked at the creature in the dark jacket.

"Yes, my queen," replied the one in the Jacket.

"What did you do?" asked the Queen as she stood up, and then walked off the seat and headed towards the three human females standing before her, "I was told through our telepathic network that you three were barely able to perform an energy attack. Have the Lanteans returned to Earth and given your people a gift? Has the one known as Hera shown your people these gifts and how to gain them?"

"Hera?" asked Constance, one of the three witches as she looked at Amy, and then at Deidre before looking at the creature again.

"We don't know what you're talking about," Constance continued to say while shaking her head.

"We don't know what you want, or who you are, or what you are," said Deidre while Amy tried her best to magically connect to the other four witches in her coven back on Earth; her very own Coven where she was the only 'expert' witch and the others were all beginners. However, Amy found she couldn't reach any of them; and then she swallowed her pride and contacted Willow... or, at least, tried to contact her.

'We're alone,' thought Amy to herself when she realized that she couldn't gather the magic needed. She listened in shock to what the queen was telling the three of them about who she was, she told them about the Wraith and the reason for coming to Earth.

"To.. to.. feed?" asked Amy as she recalled the bodies that were falling down as dry husks back in the cell when she was unable to do anything, "you're vampires?"

"What are these vampires?" asked the dark-jacketed Wraith who led them to the queen's throne room, "speak."

"You continue to attack this planet? You'll find out" said Amy defiantly, hopeful that she and the others could lie through this whole encounter so that they wouldn't die like the ones in the cells, "the vampires, demons, witches, Slayers, and human, will all rise and come after you. They'll kill everyone you sent to Earth unless you surrender. In fact, you should go down to the planet yourself and show the vampires, and demons how powerful you are."

"They are your people's weapons?" asked the Keeper with a note of curiosity in her voice as she looked at Amy, and then walked over to another female who looked back at the keeper with tears in her eyes, "are they your weapons? Where are the Lantean weapons? Where has Hera placed the Lantean weapons on Earth?"

"We don't know this Hera," said Amy as she Queen looked at her.

"One of my Wraith commanders sent a message before he was killed," said the Queen as she walked towards Amy who felt her skin crawl the closer the alien walked towards her, "he told me that Hera is alive. It is a surprise since it was my Keeper who fed on her ten thousand years ago, but being a Lantean... we should have expected that she could have been ascended."

"I.. I don't understand," said Deidre who was looking confused, "ascended? What are you talking about? The Powers that Be? I mean…"

"The Powers that Be?" asked the Wraith Queen.

"They are much more powerful than you can ever know," said Constance as the Wraith Keeper walked towards her, "they watch over this dimension; you hurt any of us, then you'll know their full fury."

The Keeper smiled at the witch and caressed the young woman's cheeks; the contact of the Wraith's cold finger's on the skin of the Witch making the latter flinch her face back.

"What are you three?" asked the Queen as she looked at the three of them.

"We're witches and I swear to you that if you touch any of us, we will kill you... everyone on your ship will die," lied Amy in her most confident voice as she looked at the Queen, the Keeper, and then the other Wraith, "what happened in the other ship was so that you could take us to your leader, and you did. Now... we will destroy your entire armada... that's how powerful we are and..."

"Silence," hissed the Queen as she put her hand up in front of Amy's face, "tell me everything about witches, Slayers, demons, magic. If they are weapons, then I will require the means to… oh… interesting."

Amy could feel mental fingers reaching out into her mind. She glanced at the others and noticed that the Wraith Commander in the black jacket and the Keeper were placing their hands right above the heads of the other two witches.

"Don't… let… them… through…" said Amy as she erected one mental barrier after another that was smashed down due to her being unable to reinforce it using magic. She sensed the ease at which the Queen was tearing through her defences and doubted if even magic would help. It was only a few seconds later that the Queen looked through her memories of magic, Sunnydale High, her mother's abuse, her transformation into a rat, and then everything else that happened. Most importantly, the Queen not only realized the reason why Amy or the other two witches couldn't utilize their magic… she also saw the images of Willow and Dawn in the blonde witch's mind.

Images that the Queen shared with her Keeper; the same Keeper who was there the day that both Athena and Hera were kept in the same room, the same Keeper who was supposed to bring her the Lantean who sought to find a cure for the Wraith so that she could feed on her. The Queen looked at the same Keeper who fed on Hera ten thousand years ago.

"This is destiny," said the Queen as she looked at the Keeper, "you failed me once in not bringing me Athena. Now you have another chance."

"Athena?" asked Amy as she panted after having her mind violated by the Queen, she had seen the same memories that the Queen had seen; that of Willow and Dawn were of utmost interest to the Queen, and as she saw the smile on the Keeper's face… Amy's face paled when the Queen looked back at her and demanded to know where they were.

"I… I don't know," said Amy as she looked at the Queen in fear when she brought her hand back up, and it was then that the witch noticed the feeding mouth on the Queen's palm open and a row of sharp teeth revealed themselves.

"You will tell me everything I need to know about Athena and Hera," said the Queen, "I know why you are not able to use magic, and if you think that my vessels will go to a lower orbit, then you are sadly mistaken."

"No.. please," said Amy as she screamed and gathered magical energy that quickly fizzled out.

"You will be my worshiper… my personal hound," said the Queen as she smashed her fingers into Amy's chest and then pressed her palm against the blonde's bare skin above her shirt, and then started to suck Amy's life force to the horror of the other two witches who could only scream while two Wraith Warriors held them in place, "you will tell me everything I need to know. Then my Wraith will bring me Athena and Hera, and they will watch… the two Lanteans will watch the humans on this planet become our cattle. And then… then I will take what was to be my meal; a long awaited meal of the Lantean that dared believe the Wraith needed a cure!"

"Your highness, I…" said the Keeper when she was interrupted by the Queen.

The Keeper was unable to finish what she wanted to say after the Queen returned Amy's life-force once again, the witch screaming in ecstasy before she collapsed on the floor of the ship. The Queen immediately turned to the pale red-haired figure and rushed towards her. The Queen then put her hand around the Keeper's throat before lifting her up into the air with one hand.

"I know what you want, Keeper," hissed the Queen as she looked at the Keeper while the Other Wraith just looked on, "you seek to feed on Hera again."

"Ye… yes," said the Keeper as she struggled to speak.

"I saw what happened that day," hissed the Queen, "you tasted Athena when you well knew that she was only meant for me. So you forfeit your claim to the sister. They are both mine, am I understood?"

"Ye.. yes," said the Keeper before the Queen released her. She then turned as the Keeper got up slowly onto her feet, and looked at Amy. She then looked at the two witches and smiled, telling them that she just needed one worshipper who knew the ins and outs of magic, and the weapons that can be used against the Wraith.

"The rest of you are food," grinned the Queen.

"No… please," said Deidre, but the Queen ignored her before telling the Keeper and the Wraith Commander that they could feed on the two remaining witches.

However, it was just then when alarms went off in the Queen's hiveship. She turned and walked towards a console and turned it on to see the new Potentia powered sensors showing that a ship was heading towards them via hyperspace and that it would be on them in ten seconds.

The Wraith Queen then screamed out loud while mentally commanding all of her Wraith Commanders, Warriors, and drones to attack the ship that would be coming out of hyperspace.

"Destroy it!" the Queen screamed.

**Asgard Vessel Belisknir, ten seconds away from Hyperspace exit.**

Thor was with the Asgard scientist known as Heimdall. He was checking up on the latter's progress in finding a cure for the genetic disease that was threatening to render one of the most advanced races extinct within the next six hundred years. However, Heimdall had hit a wall... they believed that the key lay in the Ancient gene, but given that the Ancients had either died off or ascended, there was nothing else they could do.

The Asgard were doomed.

And then there was the Asgard-Replicator war. The grey aliens were already losing against the mechanical creatures; they had instituted the use of a time dilation field after collapsing the sun of the Hala system in their own galaxy... but the war was still ongoing with millions of other replicators still attacking other Asgard planets. Thor knew that even with half of the replicators stuck in the time dilation field, there were more than enough replicators to face after nearly five-sixths of the Ida galaxy had fallen. Now only the Asgard home world of Orilla and a handful of other Colonies remained.

Thor was about to head back to Ida when the High Council sent a message saying that the replicators were nearly at Orilla; they told the Supreme Commander that he was needed back in Ida to help in keeping back the replicators while the other Asgard continued to evacuate the consciousness of those Asgard who did not have cloned bodies yet. It was just before he was about to head into hyperspace that Thor received an alert that he never thought he would receive.

An emergency priority alert on an Alliance frequency.

With the ship five seconds away from exiting hyperspace, Thor prepared himself. He recalled the confusion, something very rarely seen, on Penegal's face as Thor informed him about the message from Hera using an old emergency frequency... a frequency that only an Ancient was aware of and could access. Penegal agreed that Thor should head to Earth, especially if they could get information on a weapon to defeat the replicators, and information on a possible cure for their disease from the database on Atlantis.

'But first, Hera has to be retrieved,' thought the Asgard to himself as he sat behind a console with the others of his kind manning four other consoles.

"Raise Shields," said Thor once the Belisknir came out of hyperspace over Earth. Almost immediately, the ship was set upon by three Wraith cruisers that had broken away from the twenty-four ships that were firing blue pulses of energy weapons down to the surface of the planet. However, while Thor wanted to help the people of Earth.. the weapons fire from the three Wraith ships were causing a considerable drain on the Belisknir shields, 'I am not surprised, Hera did say that these are Potentia powered ships.'

"Engines are at full power, Supreme Commander,' said on of the Asgard while Thor nodded his head before giving the command to open fire while getting a target lock on the coordinates that the emergency call for aid had come from on the surface.

"Open the emergency channel," said Thor as he looked at a screen that speared from his console while the entire ship shook as the shields took one Potentia powered hit after another, "and fire all weapons at the lead ship."

The Belisknir opened fire with all of her energy weapons; pulses of orange coloured energy hit the Wraith cruisers with minimal damage to their hulls.. damage that was already being regenerated while the Belisknir's shields were already at forty-three percent and under constant bombardment from the three ships.

"Hera," said Thor while sparks flew from behind Thor's console when Dawn's face came up on the screen, "we are in orbit and…"

Suddenly the ship shuddered with the sound of an explosion in the distance.

"Supreme Commander," said one of the grey aliens while they were rushing from one console to another to contain an explosion that occurred somewhere in the ship, "shields are down to twenty percent."

"Evasive manoeuvres," said the alien, "continue firing all weapons.

"Thor?" asked Dawn as she looked on in shock as Thor was thrown against his console.

"Stand by, Hera," came the calm voice from the grey alien as he sat up straight in his chair once again, "initiating transport of you and the life signs closest to you."

"Understood," said Dawn, "won't you need to drop your shield?"

"No," came the response as Thor turned a grey coloured stone. He knew that his ship's shields were weakened enough that he could beam them into the vessel without dropping his shields completely. The alien then turned the stone to the left, and right in front of him was a bright flash of white light. The light faded to reveal, much to Thor's surprise, eight people who included a toddler in the arms of what it seemed to the alien as his mother, an older child,and much to his surprise given that he only read seven life signs.. there was an extra male that his sensors couldn't read.

"Oh my word," said Giles as he and the others looked stunned at the large window that looked out into space. For the first time, they watched the Wraith ships up close as they continued to fire, the entire ship shuddering as Spike and the others were just knocked off their feet while Thor gave the order to come about and then open a hyperspace window.

It was a few seconds later that a hyperspace window opened and the Belisknir flew through. However, thanks to the advanced sensor upgrades that were powered by the Potentia, the three Wraith cruisers were able to detect which way the Belisknir had taken off in Hyperspace, and the Queen ordered the crew of the three Cruisers to follow suit and destroy the ship; and then the Queen issued another order.

Once the ship was destroyed, they were told to set off and search for more inhabited worlds.

Back on the ship, Xander, Spike, Oz, Giles, and Bay looked at the blue and white hyperspace tunnel before they looked at each other and then looked at Dawn. Dawn raised an eyebrow at them and smiled before she, as well as the others, looked at the Asgard who were rushing from one console to another before looking at the other alien who was seated on a chair behind a console.

"Thor," said Dawn as she walked towards the alien and bowed her head in respect, "Supreme Commander, thank you. I know you have a lot of questions, but before we begin.. can I send a message to Earth using your long range communication systems?"

"Serious? Long range?" asked Xander as he rushed to Dawn's side, as did the others who could only look at the alien with their mouths wide open. Dawn then apologized and introduced Xander and the others to Thor before asking the grey alien about sending a message. Thor nodded at the others, with Bay and Oz waving their hands at Thor while still stunned, before he looked up at Dawn, and then nodded his head.

**White House Bunker, three minutes after Willow and Buffy returned from the Sunnydale Outpost.**

Buffy and Willow looked at the faces of the personnel, including the President, they had just briefed after returning from the Sunnydale desert. The both of them told the people around them including Vin, Sophie, Andrew, and Faith about Dawn and the others vanishing into thin air followed by the column retracting back into the sand.

"Willow," asked Sophie, "are you sure there wasn't magic involved in them vanishing?"

"I didn't feel anything," said Willow shaking her head as Kennedy then asked questions about what Dawn told them about the Wraith, and their need to feed to keep their virtual immortality. Buffy said that while she wasn't sure what Dawn meant when she told them that the Slayers were originally meant to battle the Wraith, the blonde Slayer was certain that they needed to fight back.

"This was a surprise for all of us," said the President as everyone turned towards the man, "and now, we will…."

"Buffy?"

"Dawn?" asked Buffy as she looked around the room they were in, as well as the others who had heard the disembodied voice.

"Something's gonna happen, so no shooting," said Dawn's voice as the President nodded his head and ordered the military personnel not to open fire.

"Ummm… you're clear?"

"Cool," said Dawn as a hologram of the young woman shimmered at the stairs that led down the two or three steps to the bank of monitors. The President jumped to one side when the brunette materialized next to him while Willow, her eyes wide open in fascination walked towards Dawn and ran her hand through Dawn's body.

"Wow," said Willow as she looked at Dawn, "a holographic communication interface."

"Yep," said Dawn as she looked at Willow, and then at Buffy, "I'm alright, Buffy."

"Dawnie," said Buffy as she walked towards the brunette with the Scythe in her hand, "I know I said that I don't know about…"

"I know it's gonna take time, Buffy," said Dawn with a small smile, "I just wanted to give you a heads up. I'm on board a ship belonging to a member of one of the most advanced races in this galaxy, the Asgard."

"Asgard?" asked Sophie.

"Think Roswell grey," said Dawn as everyone looked at the President who shrugged his shoulders confused before they all looked at Dawn again. Sophie was about to ask a question about the Asgard when Dawn interrupted, "I'm on a ship called the Belisknir belonging to the Supreme Commander of the Asgard Fleet, Thor."

"Thor is an alien?" asked Vin while Sophie and the others, especially Faith, had their mouths hanging open.

"Dawn?" asked Buffy as she approached her sister.

"The ship took a lot of damage," said Dawn, "we're in hyperspace and we're almost out of range. The Wraith are more powerful than I thought, and… and we're heading to the Pegasus galaxy."

"Willow," continued Dawn as she looked at the redhead before she, or any of the others cold say anything, "be careful. Look after Buffy, Faith, Andrew, and the others. Faith? You'll see hyperspace when I get back.. and Buffy?"

"Yea?" asked Buffy as her bottom lip trembled just as the hologram fizzled out for a bit. When Dawn reappeared, the brunette seemed like she was looking behind her from Buffy's perspective. Dawn then looked at Buffy and Willow, as well as the others before telling them something that made their hearts drop.

"The Wraith followed us into hyperspace," said Dawn as she looked up, and then around before looking at Buffy again.

The blonde Slayer noticed the look of fear on Dawn's face and her heart broke at thinking about how she acted.

'I should be with you,' thought Buffy to herself.

"Dawnie," said Buffy as she reached out for the brunette.

"We can't lead them to Pegasus and have them tell the other Wraith about Earth," said Dawn, "we'll be leaving hyperspace and taking them on. Thor should be rerouting power from everything to engines, shields, and weapons."

"Dawnie," said Buffy as she teared up.

"We'll make it, Buff," said Dawn, "we'll make it… I want you to fight. Kill as many Wraith as you can, stay away from the beams that come from the bottom of their darts… those alien planes. Stay away from the planes… I'll come back."

"Get back, Dawn," said Faith as she helped Andrew walk over to Buffy and Willow, "get back home to Buffy, and us."

"If I don't get back," said Dawn, "I…"

"You will get back," said Willow.

"If we don't," said Dawn, "I love you. But if we do; Buffy, Willow, when I'm done… I want to introduce you to my sister, Athena. Buffy, you're gonna love her."

"Dawnie!" shouted Buffy as a tear fell.

"We'll destroy these three ships," said Dawn shaking her head, "then I'm heading to my home in Pegasus. My home represented hope in Pegasus during the war, I'm bringing her home.. back to Earth. I'll see you in two days, Buffy... Willow.. Faith.. Andrew. Watch your backs, be careful."

It was then that the hologram of Dawn vanished, leaving behind a stunned room while Buffy turned and hugged Willow after dropping the Scythe onto the floor.

And the Slayer cried while holding tightly to her best friend.

It would be thirty minutes later that everyone, Buffy included, started planning for the push back against the Wraith.

**Asgard Vessel Belisknir.**

"Supreme Commander?" asked Dawn as she approached Thor.

"The Wraith vessels are still in pursuit," said Thor as he pulled up a screen that showed a representation of the hyperspace tunnel with his ship in blue, and the other three ships in red.

"Dawn?" asked Giles.

"One sec," said Dawn as she looked at Giles, and then at Thor, "Thor, how about your shields? Weapons?"

"As you are aware, Hera," said Thor as he looked up at the brunette who was looking back at him, "we are unable to use our weapons and shields in hyperspace. But as you have mentioned in the communication with Earth, we will be rerouting power once we have exited Hyperspace and are able to mount a defence."

"Right," said Dawn shaking her head,

"Supreme Commander," said one of the other Asgard as the human's looked at the other alien who was speaking, "the Hyperdrive has been damaged. We are at forty percent efficiency."

"Can we still head to Pegasus?" asked Dawn as Thor and the other alien looked at her, "Thor? Supreme Commander?"

"At our current speed," said Thor, "we would require four of your hours, but that does not solve the problem of the three vessels that are coming after us. We have fired our weapons, but despite their lack of shielding technology.. damage to their hulls was minimal. However, their weapons have severely depleted our shields and, as you have heard, damaged our Hyperdrive."

"You telling me all this advanced stuff.." said Spike as he looked around, "and nothing you can do?"

"Their weapons are powered using the Potentia I told you about, Spike," said Dawn as she looked at the vampire, "their hulls too… I didn't realize they'd be this powerful. They couldn't even follow us during the war when Lantean ships went into hyperspace."

"And to be able to follow this ship in hyperspace suggests that they have made significant upgrades to their sensors," said Thor as Dawn shook her head. She realized that it was worse than she thought, the Wraith had made upgrades to nearly every system on their ships from stolen Lantean technology. She thought that of all the races in the Galaxy, the Asgard may have stood a chance.. but judging from the damage to Thor's vessel that was being highlighted on another screen; Dawn could see that the grey aliens would be sorely unprepared as well.

"Can't you just.. you know.. beam in a bomb to one of those ships?" asked Xander as Oz pointed at him, and then at Thor before saying that was a good idea.

"The Asgard have not used bombs in millennia," said Thor, "and we have safeguards against using our teleportation technology from being weaponized."

"But…" said Bay while holding tightly to Kelden.

"Supreme Commander," said Dawn, "do you have a scan of those ships? The Wraith cruisers?"

Thor nodded his head as he pulled up and image of a scan he had taken immediately after coming out of Hyperspace. Dawn looked at the scans of the smaller ships; she knew that he needed to be briefed on the danger that the Wraith represented once they were safe and sound.

As if reading her mind, Thor told the former ascended being that the Alliance was aware of the Wraith, and they knew the danger that the Wraith presented to the humans of the Milky Way.

"However," said Thor as he looked at Dawn, and then at the other strangers who looked back at him, "our war with the replicators is using up the vast majority of our resources. One of the many disadvantages is that we are unable to help Earth for the moment, and we are unable to help those planets that are currently under our protection from the Goa'uld. Hera, the replicators have taken five-sixths of our galaxy… you have to understand that…"

"I do, Supreme Commander," said Dawn with a small smile, "I hope that you find what you need on Atlantis."

Thor nodded his head before the two of them looked up at the scan of the Wraith cruiser on the screen, and then suddenly Dawn opened her eyes wide when she pointed at a section of the Wraith cruiser before she looked back at Xander and laughed.

"Dawn?" asked Xander as she rushed towards him, and then threw her arms around the back of his neck and pulled him in for a deep kiss. It was a second later that she broke the kiss and looked into the eye of a stunned one-eyed man.

"You're a genius," said Dawn as she turned and looked at the screen, "Thor, can you zoom in here."

Thor zoomed the scan of the ship to a section that had several small openings while Xander scratched his head in confusion before looking at the others and then shrugging his shoulders.

"Hanger bays," said Dawn as she looked at Thor, "Wraith ships 101, can you aim for that section using your weapons?"

"Yes," said Thor nodding his head.

"Ummm… what did I say?" asked Xander confused.

"Genius? You? Really?" asked Spike as he looked at the young man before shaking his head and then looked at Dawn. The vampire walked over to where she was standing, and stood next to Dawn while pointing at the area that she had indicated earlier, "hanger bay equals to fuel, and fuel equals…?"

"Secondary explosions," said Thor as he looked at the vampire, and then looked at the screen on his console that showed the results of scans of the people in the room, and then looked up at Spike once again while his head was tilted in curiosity. Thor decided to ask the many questions about Spike later, so he turned to the other Asgard, "get us out of hyperspace. All auxiliary power to the engines, shields, and weapons; target the bays as indicated by Hera once the Wraith vessels have left hyperspace."

The Asgard nodded their heads before Dawn and Thor looked at each other, the young woman nodding her head. The young brunette then smiled and rushed towards the window, grabbing Spike's and Xander's hands as she raced towards the giant window. Once she reached the window which still showed the blue and white hyperspace tunnel, Dawn looked over her shoulder and asked the Asgard to filter all solar radiation from entering his ship through the glass.

"I'll explain everything to you after we get out of this, Thor," said Dawn before she grinned at Spike, and then at Xander. Soon, Giles, Bay, and Oz who was carrying Kelden walked up to the window while Thor counted down the time to exiting hyperspace.

It was a few seconds later that the Belisknir shot out of Hyperspace, an invisible energy shield immediately surrounding the ship, and it's weapons ready to fire at a moment's notice. Dawn looked out of the window at the vast star field beyond the glass and suddenly she felt at home; she was on a ship and battling the Wraith. She held on to Xander's hand tight as the humans saw the stars shift since the Belisknir was coming about, only to see three hyperspace windows open up and three Wraith cruisers shoot out. Immediately the Belisknir opened fire, as did the Wraith Cruisers.

The Belisknir shook as the Potentia powered plasma blasts hit against the shield.

"Evasive manoeuvres," said Thor as he turned a crystal stone and the ship banked, thereby avoiding a salvo of pulse blasts. The Belisknir continued to fire mercilessly at one of the Wraith ships while narrowly avoiding salvos' from the other two ships; salvo's of which a few impacted against the shield causing some of the passengers to feel the impact as they tried to keep their balance. However, away from the gravity well of a planet, and away from the other larger Wraith ships, the Belisknir was able to hold her own.. so far.

"Shields are at thirty percent," said Thor as the Belisknir made a hard turn to port, and the targeting sensors on the Asgard vessel continued to track the Wraith vessels, and fired close to the hanger bays of the lead ship. With more Wraith weapon impacts from the three Cruisers hitting the shields of the Belisknir, the smaller Asgard ships cannons turned forty degrees to port and fired again. The blasts of energy shot out from the cannons and then flew towards one of the Cruisers; the hull of the cruiser exploding outwards as regeneration took over immediately. However, the next two shots hit their intended targets… the hanger bays.

Bay looked on as a large explosion, larger than the ones they had seen so far, erupted from the sides of the ship.

"Continue firing, Thor," said Dawn as the Belisknir banked and then came about in order to avoid as many other salvos as possible from the three ships. The humans saw more blasts of energy being fired from the Belisknir towards the Wraith ship from which those large explosions occurred. They saw the blasts of energy hitting the surrounding area of the hanger bays before four shots hit the intended targets again.

Then there was another massive explosion from inside the Wraith ship that blew off a good chunk of the ship.

"Thor!" said, Dawn, as she turned around, "can you beam up the Potentia?"

"Yes,' said Thor as he turned a grey stone. There was a flash of light next to the alien's console that left behind a crystalline object that had purple tendrils coming out from the sides. Tendrils that were covered in some sort of a purple goo.

"Eww," said Xander as he looked at the device before looking out the window. On the reflection, he saw something that he had never seen before in Dawn's eyes as she looked at the damaged Wraith ship, and the other two that were heading towards it while still firing on the Belisknir; he saw a coldness that sent a chill up his spine.

"Destroy it, Thor," said Dawn as she rolled her hands into fists, "none of them survives, they're too dangerous.".

"I have been able to scan the interior of the damaged vessel," said Thor as he fired another salvo into the damaged ship, leading to a massive explosion that tore apart the cruiser while Spike punched his fist into the air before shouting some choice expletives at the shockwave that slightly damaged the other Wraith Cruisers indicated by tiny explosions along the hulls of the other two ships as they tried to avoid the debris from the destroyed Wraith vessel, "they were using the Potentia powered hull to block any scans of the interior. I know where the Potentia is likely to be located, but I am unable to beam them out."

"Hit them all," said Dawn as she let go of Xander's hand, the young man looking on as Dawn took a step closer as the two ships continued firing at the Belisknir while the Asgard returned fire at the targeted hanger bays. The Belisknir shook, and there were explosive showers from behind some of the other consoles as Dawn shook her head and looked behind her

"Shields are at twenty percent," said Thor as Dawn told Xander to take Giles, and Oz, Bay, and Kelden to one corner and stay there. She told them to hold on to the consoles at that location for dear life.

"Dawn?" asked Xander when Dawn interrupted him.

"Go!" shouted Dawn as Spike grabbed him by the collar and then rushed to the place where Oz had already pulled Bay, Kelden, and Giles too.

Xander watched as Dawn looked at him just before she rushed towards Thor who was speaking in a calm voice that shields were down to ten percent, that the Wraith vessels were pulling more power from the Potentia.

"How many Hyperspace generators?" shouted Dawn as she covered her face for a shower of sparks, "Commander? How many hyperspace generators on this ship?"

"Four, Hera," said Thor as he looked up at the brunette, "are you suggesting…"

"An overload?" asked Dawn, "yes! I may have been just an anthropologist on Atlantis, but I've heard a tactic like this used in desperation."

"Shields are at ten percent," said another Asgard as the entire ship shook.

Thor nodded his head as he then turned four crystals on his console, and moved two more from one place to another. He then told Dawn that two of the generator are in the process of overloading and that he'll beam them out as close to the Wraith Cruisers as possible at the last possible moment before they explode.

"Five percent shielding," said Thor as Dawn held onto Thor's console for dear life while the entire ship shook. Dawn shouted and ran towards Giles and Bay who had fallen. The ship shook again as the shield reached one percent, and more of the impact of the weapons bled through as Dawn fell onto the floor before getting up again and towards Giles who was struggling to get to his feet. She saw Xander helping up Bay while Kelden was crying in Oz's arms while she felt an arm around her waist that lifted her up. She looked back and smiled at Spike before they headed for Giles.

"Beaming out Hyperdrive generators," said Thor as he began a countdown, "Two... One… entering hyperspace. Dawn grabbed a hold of Giles and wrapped her arms around him as they looked out of the window and saw two bright flashes of blue light just before the ship flew head-on into a hyperspace window.

"It's over," said Dawn as she closed her eyes and lay her head on top of Giles' head, "it's over."

"Wraith vessels are not in pursuit," said Thor as the ship got out of hyperspace and attempted to run long-range scans, "long range sensors have been damaged, long and short range communications have been damaged, shield emitters have been damaged in various sections of this ship, power leaks have been reported in many areas, hull breaches in fourteen levels, forty Asgard have been injured."

"Sorry, Thor," Dawn said as she got up while helping Giles to stand up before she turned and looked at Xander. She mouthed the words 'sorry' to him as well before looking behind her and telling Thor that she had no idea that the Wraith could have managed to integrate the Potentia into their systems so completely, "and I'm sorry about all the damage. And.. and I hate to sound like I don't care about any of this but.. but can we still make it to Pegasus?"

"With the loss of the two generators, and given the problems with power," said Thor as he looked at his console, "we will arrive at Pegasus in a little under eight hours. However, Hera… we require the Stargate address for Atlantis. That way we will be able to plot a course."

'Of course," said Dawn as she squeezed Xander's arm before she walked to Thor, "I need the symbols for the Pegasus Stargates."

Thor nodded his head while Dawn selected eight of the symbols that appeared on the screen at Thor's console while using Earth as the point of origin. Thor then turned a crystal on his console while Dawn looked behind her as Kelden continued to cry while Bay and Oz were trying to calm him down.

"Hera," said Thor as Dawn turned to face him, "you are aware that one of your companions has exhibited no life signs?"

"Yea," said Dawn nodding her head, "like I said, it's a long story."

"One which I hope you will explain once you and your companions have healed any injuries," said Thor as Dawn nodded at Thor, before looking over her shoulder.

"There's a lot of explanations. Trust me," said Dawn.

**Tartarus, a few minutes ago.**

In a dimly lit corridor Her'ak, the First Prime to the Goa'uld known as Anubis, hurried past several Jaffa who stopped what they were doing and bowed down at him before they went on their way. The man walked through even more corridors where he heard screams from those Jaffa of other System Lords being tortured for information on the whereabouts, and ship movements of their 'gods'. Soon he came across a door that was guarded by two Jaffa who stood at attention upon seeing him.

"Open the door," said Her'ak, "I have news for our lord Anubis."

One of the guards nodded his head before opening the door and letting in the First Prime who stopped after the door slid shut behind him as he watched Anubis, in a black cloak with a mask over his face, along with two Jaffa on either side pointing their staff weapons at the System who was on his knees in front of him.

"Once you have fallen, Ra," said Anubis is his gravelly voice, "only Lord Yu, Sokar, Amaterasu, Ba'al, and Cronus remain of the old order. Only Apophis has joined me… agreed to operate under my banner."

"I will never be your slave," hissed Ra as he looked up at Anubis.

"I never wanted you as my slave," said Anubis, "fire."

Her'ak looked on as the Jaffa, one of whom was Ra's Frist Prime, fired into the chest of the former Supreme System lord. Dropping dead onto the floor, Anubis told the Jaffa to clear Ra's body from his sight before he looked at Her'ak who dropped to his knees and bowed his head while Anubis walked back to his seat in his throne room.

"What is it, Her'ak?" asked Anubis as Her'ak raised his head in reverence and put a fist against his chest.

"Lord Anubis," said Her'ak, "you have ordered some of your loyal Jaffa to monitor various signals that belong to the Ancients."

"Yes," replied Anubis as he grabbed the edges of the armrests and leaned forward, "don't tell me…"

"A signal was just sent out on an emergency frequency used by the Alliance," said Her'ak as Anubis stood up again, "it is one of the signals you ordered some of your Jaffa to monitor, my lord."

"Tell me everything," said Anubis as he walked towards Her'ak.

TBC.

 


	7. Chapter 7

**White House Underground Bunker, Washington D.C, thirty minutes after Dawn's communication.**

Willow had updated the other Slayers and witches using her magic with the latest details of what Dawn had shared with them after returning from the desert. The Slayers in the bunker, using Willow's magic, had already discussed with the other Slayers and witches out in the world in regards to the areas of the world where they would be needed the most. So now, Willow and the others were about to leave when four of the ten screens in the bunker's monitor bank suddenly went offline; before turning on again to show only static for a few seconds before showing a young blonde woman in a white room.

"My name is Eve," said the blonde woman as her face appeared on all four of the monitors, "Mr. President, I come to you on behalf of the Senior Partners of…"

"Wolfram and Hart," said Willow as she knitted her eyebrows before she looked at Buffy, "Buffy, if they're involved then it's not good."

"Miss Rosenberg," said Eve as she looked directly at Willow who was glaring back at her, "it seems that you and your people, specifically the Slayer's and witches, have been unable to do anything to save this planet."

"I've heard of Wolfram and Hart, Miss Eve," said the President, "I've heard all the rumours and…"

"The Senior Partners still want their own apocalypse to occur on this planet," said Eve with a smile as she nodded her head while the others just looked on, "the intervention of these…"

Everyone in the room could see Eve's face twisting in disgust before she said, "… aliens, seem to have ruined that timetable. So, the Senior Partners have authorized me to come to you with a…"

"No," said Buffy and Kennedy together, while Faith looked on.

"Slayers," smiled Eve as she looked at them, "this isn't your call, is it? Mr. President?"

Everyone saw the face of the woman on the screen look at the President who stepped forward while his hands were turned to fists.

"I'm sure that Miss Summers and Miss Williams will tell you that we are an evil law firm," sighed Eve as she continued, "the fact is that we are; but we get things done, unlike the Slayers and witches. I have been authorized to come to you with a bargain deal, the senior partners have a space ship. We have a crew and we will launch the ship on your orders. All we want in return is the technology from these Wraith, we want proprietary access to that technology."

"Sounds too good to be true," said Faith as she walked up to, and stood next to Buffy and Kennedy while crossing her arms over her chest.

"My sister asked us not to fire any advanced technology, Mr. President," whispered Buffy as he looked at the President who was holding onto the railings in front of him. He knew that a choice needed to be made, either launch the ship or just keep it stationed in one location. The President remembered what Dawn said, that firing any more nuclear weapons, already a sign of an advancement in technology, would just earn them more wrath from the Wraith.

"Mr. President," said Eve, "we can launch the ship, or the Senior partners can have their apocalypse right now. They can activate the Hellmouths and release the Old Ones ahead of schedule. They'd rather not, at least not yet. With what they're offering you now, everyone wins, Mr. President. We get the technology which we'll patent so that it could be shared with rest of the world, and the Earth lives. Humanity lives. Hooray for all. If not, then the Senior partners open the Hellmouths and…"

"Hellmouths?" asked the President as he looked at Eve, and then at Buffy and the other Slayers and witches who frowned, "as in plural?"

"Opening those things will definitely bring the end of the world," said Vin, "you're looking at demons taking over the Earth again and… and the death of the human race. Not to even talk about the Old Ones."

"Not good," said Sophie as the President looked at her, and then at Eve once again.

"What if your ship can't destroy those ships in orbit? What happens then?" said the President as he glared at the smiling Eve.

"We can, and we will," said the blonde woman as a ship just appeared behind her, a massive ship that was shaped like an insect.

"You don't know what you're doing," said Buffy as she looked at Eve, "Dawn said that…"

"The senior partners don't know why your sister supposedly believes she knows more than them," said Eve with a smile, "but we can tell you that when it comes to advanced technology with mystical reinforcements going up against pure advanced technology? The mystical will always win out. Either way, the technology represented by the Wraith is of such calibre that will belong to us, make no mistake. So Mr. President, are you prepared to see the world fall by letting us sit back and start the apocalypse, or are you willing to sacrifice a little bit for a huge payoff at the end; all of your lives."

"Mr. President," said Kennedy, "we.. we just need to hold off for two days. If we do anything now, then…. then they could start taking more people and…"

"Dawn said they don't like a planet to be as technologically advanced as them," said Faith as she stepped towards the President, "if they launch the ship? And let's say that they destroy a few of the Wraith, the others will fire full force at the planet before destroying the ship, and.. and they'll see us as a definite threat then."

"Tick, Tock, Mr. President," said Eve.

"Do it," said the President softly while shaking his head as he glared at Eve, "God help you if you fail; because if you do.. then you and your senior partners killed us all."

"We will even switch to our own satellite," said Eve as the view on the four monitors changed to that of the group of now twenty-one ships while Eve's voice spoke over the moving images. The group saw the Earth ship appear out of nowhere as the Wraith cruisers started firing on the newest vessel. Willow and the others saw the blasts from four of the Wraith cruisers dissipate, and then crackle along the hull of the ship while it returned fire. They watched with bated breath as the ship took on two out of four of the Wraith cruisers by opening fire on them. The group in the bunker saw the small explosions on the hull of two of the cruisers just as two Hiveships, and four additional cruisers opened fire. The group in the bunker watched as the Earth ship took the pounding from the energy blasts; the blue Wraith bolts dispersing on the hull of the Earth ship. Suddenly, there was an explosion from the port side of the Earth vessel followed by an explosion on the hull of one of the cruisers.

The Earth ship continued to fire at the Wraith while causing some damage. However, the Earth ship suddenly listed after an explosion on her ventral side from Wraith weapons impact. Buffy put her hands on her head in disbelief as another explosion erupted from the rear of the Earth ship, followed by another one, and then another one. Now, every Wraith ship was firing at the Earth ship as it's engines cut out. They could hear Eve screaming at the ship's crew to get back to Earth, but the communications were down; it didn't take too long before the ship was totally destroyed as it exploded in orbit.

The connection to the satellite was cut just before they saw the Wraith ships opening fire on the Earth in earnest; they had revealed advanced technology, now the Wraith wanted to find that technology and destroy it, even if they had to destroy the world to do it; even if they wiped out the vast majority of humans on the planet to complete their goal.

"We need to get out there, now," said Buffy as she looked at Willow, Kennedy, Faith, and the other slayers and witches, "I need witches and Slayers at the entrances to the Deeper Well."

Buffy then looked at the President and asked if he could talk to the British and New Zealand governments; so that they could mobilize a military presence to the locations that Willow would be giving them.

"I can have a message sent through Morse code," said the President, "that's the only thing that we have."

"We should have some Slayers in Cleveland to protect the Hellmouth there," said Kennedy.

"Willow," said Buffy, "I need you to show the President and his people the location of the two entrances to the Deeper Well, and then contact Witches and the Slayers... update them."

"We should get D'hoffryn to help," said Vin, "that lazy bum's probably sitting around somewhere."

"I don't know if he'll be granting us more wishes," said Buffy.

"But we'll have vengeance demons on our side," said Faith as Buffy nodded her head.

"Mr. President," said Kennedy as she and Buffy walked towards the President while Willow went to the officer that Dawn had talked to earlier and asked him to pull up a map of the world. After indicating on the map the location of the two entrances to the Deeper Well, the redhead nodded at Buffy. The blonde Slayer then told the President that she'll be leaving Andrew in the bunker and that they would try and kill as many Wraith as possible.

"Go," said the President as he looked at Buffy, "save as many as you can, Miss Summers. Do what you and your people do, protect us."

**Asgard Vessel Belisknir, 1800 hours.**

It was nearly an hour since the Belisknir left Earth orbit, soon followed by the ship, under Thor's command, destroying three Wraith cruisers on the way to the Pegasus galaxy. While Dawn and the others were getting checked out medically, Spike was standing at the large window in the bridge of the ship looking out at the blue and white hyperspace tunnel that they were flying through.

It was something the ensouled vampire never thought possible; never in his wildest dreams did he think it could be even real. Sure he read stories of time machines, and various other types of science fiction when he, Angel, Darla, and Drusilla weren't committing acts of murder and destruction throughout Europe. But actually knowing that he was really in an alien ship heading to another galaxy after having fought off alien ships that were attacking Earth was something that stunned the former poet.

He looked over his shoulder at the grey Roswell-like aliens as they went from one console to another while trying their best to fix the damage done to their ship.

'Lil'bit called these guys the most advanced race,' though Spike to himself, 'but their ship's been… well, nearly destroyed for lack of a better word. We were lucky I guess. But… but I trust Dawn, there's something that I just trust in what she's said about being able to get rid of the Wraith.'

Looking back out at the hyperspace tunnel, he saw the reflection of Dawn, Bay, and Giles on the window as they walked through a door that hissed open. Turning around, Spike headed towards Dawn who had the cleaned up version of what she had referred to as a Potentia. He looked at the canister-like collection of crystals and was amazed that they could contain such untold amounts of power; power that Dawn explained before she left with Xander, Giles, Bay, Oz, and Kelden, that could potentially last for millions of years; that the power consumption depended on the power requirements placed on the Potentia.

"Nibblet," said Spike as he walked towards the young brunette while pointing at the device in her hand, "how's the power thing?"

"After everything?" asked Dawn as she looked at the Potentia, and then placed it on a console before looking at Thor who was at another console, "Thor ran scans on it, and found that it's got about sixty percent power left."

"Will that be enough to power Atlantis, Hera?" asked Thor as he looked at the brunette from behind his console while Dawn and the others walked towards the grey alien.

"I prefer that we have three just so that we could make it to Earth in a few hours," said Dawn, "with only one Potentia powering the Stardrive, it could take us under a day to reach the Milky way. But, I'll be unlocking all of Atlantis' systems, including records of Potentia storage and production facilities in our galaxy. I was thinking that could be our first stop; we could restock the Potentia and weapons, and then head to Earth."

"Amazing," said Giles who had ignored everything Dawn had told Thor while he took his first real look at the Asgard symbols that represented their language on the consoles. He then looked at Thor before moving to one side so that two Asgard could walk past him before he ran to Dawn, "these are Norse runes like those found on Earth. I'm just upset that I don't know what they say but… but Thor, if it is alright with you... after all of this is over and done with, I'd like to learn your language. This is simply amazing."

Thor looked at the excited boy before he tilted his head and blinked his eyes. Thor then looked at Dawn and told her that it was finally time for some explanations. In the meantime, the door hissed open again with Xander and Oz coming in a bag each. One bag was full of protein bars, and the other bag had some snacks and some food for Kelden; all of which was created by the Asgard matter beams that were one of the first systems restored by the Asgard. Once everyone, including the excited Xander, and Oz were back, with the former werewolf reaching into his bag and handing a treat to his son who was in Bay's arms; Dawn told Thor the truth about who Spike really was, a vampire… a demon inhabiting a human body who mystically had his soul restored.

"Fascinating," said Thor as he looked at Spike, who surprised at a screen that popped up in front of Thor's console that showed a scan of the vampire's body in three dimensions, "you have no body heat, but you have blood flow despite your heart not beating. I am reading brain activity but live preserving functions such as breathing. Your organs are all shut down, but you are still alive."

"I'm unique," said Spike.

"Well, you and Angel," said Xander with a smirk as Spike glared at the one eyed man before rolling his eyes and then looking at Thor.

"You are a demon," said Thor, "just as Hera has stated; amazing…. I believed that the Furlings had destroyed many of your people."

"The who now?" asked Xander.

"There was once an alliance of four great races in the galaxy," said Thor, "the Asgard, the Nox, the Ancients, and the Furlings."

"The Furlings were the more mystical of the four races," said Dawn as she looked at the others who looked back at her in surprise, "I mean the Furlings who were part of the Alliance were those who focused on both mystics… what we call magic, and also science. But there was another faction that only practised magics. They were more concerned with prophecy, and… and signs, and rituals. They caused a lot of pain."

Giles was the first to notice the pained expression on Dawn's face.

"Dawn?" asked Giles curiously, "what are you thinking?"

"I learned during my history lessons on Atlantis that the Altera asked the mystic sects of the Furlings for help in finding a cure for the plague I told you about," said Dawn towards Giles before she looked at Thor and nodded her head. Figuring out what the brunette was going to tell the others, Thor pulled up a three-dimensional model on his screen of how the Earth looked like more than ten million years ago. The others, especially Giles, listened on as their expressions turned to surprise when Dawn told them about the doorway that the Altera had opened using Furling mysticism combined with their quantum technology, "we Lanteans never did that again, you know. They opened a portal to dimensions that… that… well, let's just say that there was no cure. But it released mystical energy for the Furlings to use as a power source. Or you could say mystical energy that combined with the energy that was already present on Earth."

"What are you saying, Dawn?" asked Giles as he fixed his glasses, "because if you're saying what I think you're saying, then it's not possible. The Hellmouths exist because of the deeper well, that's how it was written and…"

"Who wrote it?" asked Dawn gently as she looked at Giles, "this is my people's history, Giles. All we wanted was a cure, and we were tricked. You can look at the database on Atlantis, but there's no record of any demons or vampires, or monsters, or deeper wells, or Hellmouths when the Alterra first arrived on Earth."

"But the stories say that in the Primordial times, the Earth was a burning hell, home to demons, the First Ones, horrors big and small until mortal man rose up and killed the pure demons, and chased the survivors back into their dimension," said Giles while Spike, Xander and the others could only look on as the Watcher's world was about to be turned upside down, "the mortals practiced magic and… and then they rose up and here we are. We're now the dominant force on Earth."

"The proof is in Atlantis," said Dawn before she looked at Thor, "but I'm guessing that the Asgard have been keeping an eye on Earth after Atlantis left."

"Indeed," said Thor as he turned a crystal and the Earth on the screen seemed to change colour. They saw the clouds turned red in some areas, blues and purples in others, combined with pits of fire and volcanos in many areas, as well as boiling lakes of lava and mud; there were some areas that were just dessert with the sands shifting in colour as demons roamed the ground. Thor showed the humans in front of him images of demons large and small that were gathering on the surface; some were slithering around, while others walked on four legs while trying to eat the others; there were even more that were on two legs and moving away to distant lands. It was then that they saw the creature that the Scooby's would encounter millions of years later during Sunnydale Hugh's graduation, Olvikan; the pure demon which resembled a giant snake. It was later that the view zoomed out and the Earth rotated and then zoomed back in to show flying creatures that were avoiding lighting strikes from the blue clouds above when suddenly tentacles grabbed one of the larger flying creatures, and then it was torn in half.

"No," said Giles with his eyes wide open.

"Way," said Xander as he finished Giles' line.

The others watched as the original version of Illyria roared on the surface of the planet while writhing its tentacles as it attacked more demons.

Thor turned off the screen and then told them that those images were taken ten thousand years after the Ancients left. He said that a group of Asgard had checked on the planet three thousand years earlier, and they had mysteriously vanished. Before anyone could interrupt, Thor said that a second team was sent to search for the first team, but they were attacked by large flying creatures when the team flew their ship into the planet's atmosphere. Thor said that the population of those demons only grew and that the Asgard would check on the world every thousand years.

"Then the humans evolved," said Thor, "we watched as the mystical Furlings taught the early humans mystics; we were even told as much during discussions to re-create the Alliance of Four after the Ancients returned to this galaxy. Eventually, humans became the dominant creature on Earth."

"You were right, Giles," said Xander as he rubbed the back of his head, "Earth was hell for demons."

"I'm guessing that the deeper Well was dug using Furling technology," said Dawn, "after each powerful Old One was killed…"

"They were buried in the Well," said Spike nodding his head.

"But where does that leave the Seed of Wonder?" asked Giles while Thor looked up from his console and asked Dawn what the Seed was. Spike was the one who quickly explained the concept of the seed and that when it was destroyed, all access to magic was gone. He said that now since the Earth had a new seed, magic returned.

"Interesting," said Thor as he went back to his work.

It was Dawn who looked at the alien first before looking at Giles and the others.

"The Alterra didn't know about the Seed," said Dawn as she crossed her arms over her chest and went deep into thought as she remembered her time as an ascended being when she would visit other planets and feel the mystical energy just exuding from those worlds. She remembered it being different than Earth's magic which was being combined with the energy coming out of the Hellmouth. But after knowing what she knew about the seed during her time as Dawn, she came up with a theory that she explained to the Scooby's, "what if Earth isn't the only planet with magic?"

"What do you mean?" asked Bay as she carried Kelden from Oz who was biting into a protein bar.

"Think about it," said Dawn, "when I was ascended I've been on planets that have their own mystical energy. What if there's more than one seed out there? What if the…"

"But magic's all around us," said Giles.

"On Earth," pointed out Xander as Dawn nodded her head, "it's all around us on Earth."

"Look," said Dawn, "a long time ago... more than sixty million years ago, when the Alterra, my people came to this galaxy, they eventually settled on Earth. From Earth, my ancestors found something that they didn't find in our original galaxy. You have to understand, this is something that all Lanteans had to study… we learned that the early Alterra, after thousands of years of creating a galaxy-wide civilization, found something amazing."

"What?" asked an intrigued Giles as Thor too looked up at the former ascended being.

"You know what the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation is?" asked Dawn as she looked at the Scoobies.

"Radiation left over from the Big Bang," said Giles as he rubbed his chin.

"The early Alterra found a pattern in the radiation," said Dawn as everyone, even Thor looked at her in surprise since this was something that not even the Ancients had revealed during their time in the Alliance, "fragments anyway of what seemed to be a pattern; something they knew couldn't be natural. Now that I think about it, maybe we found it because of the seed. Because I read that we never found something like that in the original Alterra galaxy. Maybe the seed just acted as a focus for the magic all around us, amplified it so that our equipment could see the fragments. Is that what happened? I don't know. The truth is that everything that happened, happened before any of us existed; this is just theory. And yes, I know Spike said something was written about the seed, and Willow said the Seed talked to her… even so, would it really tell anyone the truth? You saw the video of what happened after the Hellmouth was opened… we didn't find anything here after arriving on Earth. You can take that as you want."

Dawn continued to say that to collect the fragments of the pattern, and to explore the universe, seed ships were first launched to create and deposit Stargates on habitable worlds throughout the Milky way, and then to the other Galaxy's out there. She said that an entire generation of the Alterra was dedicated to the creation of a massive ship that was tasked with following these seed ships and gathering data on the planets where the Stargates were being deposited, as well as collecting information on the pattern that the Alterra had detected.

"This ship," said Thor, "then it must be billions of light years away."

"Probably in a galaxy that none of us have charted," said Dawn as she looked at the Asgard, and then at Xander and smiled, "I remember boarding the ship with Athena. We were racing and.. and she cheated... heh, my sister... anyway, the ship's beautiful… old, but beautiful. They named her Destiny."

"Destiny?" said Spike.

"Yeah," said Dawn, "the Alterra were going to board the ship after it was a long way out; when it had collected enough data to start research but that idea was abandoned when they began research on Ascension. Destiny's still out there doing what she's supposed to do, but we'll never know the answer to the question of what that pattern really is."

"Some would say it's a sign of God," said Giles as he put his hands on top of his head in excitement, "my word this is amazing if true."

"It's all in the Atlantis database," said Dawn smiling at the young boy.

"With your permission Hera," said Thor as Dawn looked at the Asgard, "if we are able to find a weapon to defeat the replicators, and we are able to find a cure for our disease, I request that the Asgard render some assistance in discovering Destiny's flight path. Perhaps we could find a way to find the vessel and board it… perhaps even restore it to its former glory while analysing the information that has already been collected.."

"Millions of years of information," said Oz, "I can't even imagine… wow."

"The pattern could very well be a vestige of magic left behind from the Big Bang itself," said Giles, "really fascinating, all of this."

The group talked to Dawn about a few more things before they went back to the return of the Lanteans. It was Bay who asked the question why the Lanteans had changed their names to the Ancients.

"The Lanteans who returned from Pegasus after losing the war began to call themselves the Ancients," said Dawn, "they were already ancient when compared to the younger primitive people on Earth at the time."

"Oh," said Bay while Kelden took a bite out of his sweet.

"Where do the Asgard fit into all this?" asked Giles as Thor looked at the boy.

"Yeah," said Xander as he interrupted Giles while Dawn chuckled. She knew what happened when Giles would get excited, he could go on talking without even taking a breath of air, "oh, did an Asgard happen to crash land a ship.. or something in a small city called Roswell?"

"Xander," chuckled Dawn as she shook her head while Spike did a face palm.

"The Asgard have been watching over many civilizations," said Thor as he looked at Giles and then at Xander, "including Earth as I have already said. We have interacted with humans through the use of holographic covers so as not to frighten them with our real appearance. We have guided humans occasionally when the need was great, but we left them to their own devices. There are other planets where we have taken a more active role in terms of helping with their activities, but none so much that they would rely on us for every single need. Unlike the Goa'uld, we do not project ourselves as beings to be worshipped."

"The who now?" asked Xander.

He, and the others listened to Dawn as she slowly started to get her memories back of her time on Earth. Xander, Giles, Spikes, Bay, and Oz were slacked jawed as thesy listened to Dawn talk about the pyramids being used as landing pads for Ra's ships. She told the stunned humans about the uprising by the ancient Egyptians that drove Ra away from Earth. It was then Dawn finally remembered what happened to the Stargate, she told Giles and the others that she and Athena had watched Ra take off with the Stargate when he escaped.

"So let me get this straight," said a still stunned Spike after Dawn told them about Ra, "Ra's an alien?"

**The orbit of Lantea, seven hours later.**

A fissure opened in the empty space above Lantea just as the Belisknir sped through with the Scoobies standing at the window once again after they had gotten some sleep for four hours. In the meantime, the Asgard had managed to repair their short, and long range subspace communications systems. Once those were repaired, they had contacted the Asgard High Council and told Penegal that they were heading to Atlantis before Thor told the leader of the High Council that the Wraith were more powerful than they imagined since their ships were being powered by Potentia. All Penegal could do was nod his head before telling Thor about the replicators having taken over five other worlds, and that Orilla would fall soon.

Back in the present, Giles looked on next to the others as the ship flew through the clouds of Lantea. He recalled the end of the conversation that Thor had with Penegal nearly two hours ago and then recalled the conversation they had with Dawn before that. He still couldn't believe what Dawn had told him and the others about Ra, about the Pyramids, and about an uprising that not a single archaeologist had any evidence to show. However, he did know of one man who had what Giles thought at the time was a crazy wild theory; to him and many in the archeological community, this man was a joke.

'Dr. Jackson was right,' thought Giles to himself, "all of us thought it was a crazy theory.'

However, it was a theory that Dawn seemed to confirm.

Shaking his head as the ship flew through the clouds of the planet and then hovered over an area of the ocean, Giles then looked at Spike who was looking at the sun high up in the Lantean sky… its light reaching into the ship through the window; the filter that Thor applied preventing the vampire from being turned into ash.

"Hera," said Thor as Giles, Xander and Spike turned to watch Dawn, who was carrying a laughing Kelden, walk over to Thor's console with Bay and Oz as a three-dimensional model of Atlantis appeared on Thor's screen, "the city is on the ocean's floor at the coordinates you indicated."

"That's Atlantis?" asked Bay as they looked at the outline of the city while Dawn nodded her head.

"How's the shield?" asked Dawn as she looked at Thor.

"It has weakened considerably," said Thor as he pulled up scans onto the screen which showed the shield had pulled back to the edge of the outer towers.

"The piers are flooded," said Dawn with a frown before she pointed at the base of the central tower, "that's fine cause I need to be right there. Thor, can you beam me and the potentia there? I can run with the power source to the power room. Put the new one in, and then raise the city."

"I must warn you that if the sensors read there are people in the city," said Thor as he looked at Dawn, "then power could be transferred from the shields to life-support. It could mean that the shield completely collapses, and you will be unsuccessful in your mission."

"But…." Said Dawn as she looked at Thor.

"Send me, Lil'Bit," said Spike as everyone looked at him, "I'm dead, remember? No life signs."

"But you don't know what needs to be done, Spike," said Dawn, "there's a combination that…"

"Show me, pet," said Spike as he gave a look at Dawn that indicated he was not taking 'no' for an answer. Thor then told Dawn that since they repaired their communication systems, she could talk to, and guide, Spike using the holographic communications system. Reluctantly, Dawn nodded her head before telling Spike to be careful. She handed him the Potentia and then Thor handed the vampire a crystal, saying that he needed to hold to it.

"Since you do not have any life signs in the traditional sense," said Thor, "I will lock onto that transmitter and beam you to the coordinates that Hera has indicated."

"Ok," said Spike as he took the crystal while Dawn placed a grey oval crystal on her chest. The vampire then nodded at Dawn, and the others before telling Thor that he was ready to be beamed down, "never thought I'd say that."

Just as he finished speaking, Spike found himself awash in bright white light. When the light vanished, he found himself in a dark hallway with the holographic version of Dawn standing a few feet in front of him. From Dawn's perspective, she could see Spike and the dark hallway as an overlay to the people who were looking back at her on the bridge. She focused on Spike and looked around until she found the entrance panel, and pointed her finger at the raised device.

"Spike," said Dawn as he ran to her while she pointed at the rainsed panel on the door frame, "the city thinks she's still empty, there's no life so power hasn't been restored. You need to manually open the door."

"How?" asked Spike as he looked at Dawn, and then at the alien technology.

"I'll talk you through," said Dawn with a smirk, "trust me, I used to do this to sneak into Athena's room and play tricks on her."

"What stories those would be?" asked Spike as he smirked before Dawn told him what he needed to do. It was two minutes later, after Spike switched some crystals around, that the door partially slid open. Dawn told Spike that he should be able to open the door the rest of the way. After Spike pulled the door open, the two of them walked into the room and Dawn looked at the central column where the three Potentia were only dimly lit, indicating that they were extremely low on power.

"Spike," said Dawn as she pointed at the console in front of the column while all the others saw Dawn wave her hands as she spoke into thin air, "there's a code you need to enter to release the Potentia. Once they've been released, the city will still have power as long as the other Potentia remains in their slots at the surface of the column. I need you to take out one of the Potentia when it comes out of the column, then take the one I gave you and gently push it into the slot until it lights up. Then you'll have to redo the same sequence of keys so that the Potentia can retract back into the column. Spike, you ready? You need to be quick, the shield can't hold out against all that pressure for long."

"Ready," said Spike as he nodded at Dawn who then pointed at several keys on the console, all of which Spike pressed before he looked up and saw the three Potentia rise up from their slots. He then quickly took one of the devices out of the slot, and replaced it with the Potentia in his hand. Spike pushed it down until there was a clicking sound, and then the Potentia lit up brighter than the other two. Spike then ran to where Dawn was and repeated the same sequence of keys before the three Potentia retracted into the column.

"Thor's saying that the shield's powered back up," said Dawn, "good job, Spike."

"See," said Spike, "I told you I could do it. Now what?"

Dawn walked to another console and told him to press another sequence of keys. Spike nodded his head and pressed those keys while asking Dawn how she knew about all this.

"You were off-world most times, right?" asked Spike as Dawn blushed.

"I was dating a guy who worked down here," said the young woman, "well, not dating but he was interested in me. He showed me around, and showed me some of the systems to impress me."

"So were you impressed?" asked Spike.

"Kinda,' said Dawn as she looked back at Xander who looked at her with an eyebrow raised, "but Athena overheard him telling his friends that he just wanted to have sex with the daughter of one of the Lantean Councillors."

"Too bad I didn't know 'im then," said Spike as Dawn continued to look at Xander who said that he'd hammer him into the ground.

"Athena threatened him," said Dawn with a smile as she looked at Xander, and then at the overlay of Spike, "told him that if he touches me, she'll send him through the Stargate into a black hole."

"I love your sister," said Xander and Spike together while Giles coughed nervously, and Bay, and Oz chuckled.

"She loved you once," mumbled Dawn as she turned away from Xander, and then looked at the overlay of Spike. She pointed at the last key before she ran to the large window that looked out to the planet's surface. She was soon followed by Thor and the others as the overlay of Spike was shouting at Dawn that the city was shaking. She then saw the vampire suddenly fall onto the floor.

"It's ok, Spike," said Dawn as she looked out at the ocean below with Giles standing to her left, and Xander on her right with the others all standing around them. Dawn couldn't help but smile at the sight of a shadow just below the surface of the ocean, and then the top of the central tower crashed through the formerly pristine surface. Dawn reached for and held Xander's hand as the central tower continued to rise, and soon the other towers broke through to the surface of the ocean until the city was floating on the water. Dawn then told Spike what keys to press to lower down the shield before she told him that she'll see him soon. The brunette took off the crystal on her chest while Giles whispered, "oh my lord," when the shield retracted.

"Ladies and gentlemen," said Dawn as she looked at the city, "the crown jewel of my people, Atlantis."

Dawn then looked at Thor and nodded her head when he requested that they land so that they could begin repairs on the remaining two hyperspace generators, with Dawn telling him that he could land on the South Pier. She then looked out at the city and whispered to herself.

"I'm home."

TBC.

 


	8. Chapter 8

**Power Control Room, a few seconds after the shield retracted.**

During all the commotion of the city shaking before he felt the city rising through the water, Spike had heard what Dawn said; the young woman had only whispered it but even during the commotion earlier while he was in the city, the ensouled vampire heard every word with his enhanced hearing.

And it left him confused as he pressed the buttons to lower the shield, and then a few seconds later there was a bright flash of light from behind him. Spike turned around to find a grinning Dawn looking at him, while Xander, Giles, Bay, Oz, and Kelden were standing all around her, the toddler looking around at his new surroundings. It was at that point in time that the lights in the room activated, followed by the window panel right behind Spike. The peroxide-blonde haired vampire first felt the warmth of the Lantean sun on his neck as he turned around slowly... he expected that his skin would burn and that his body would be smoking. He looked out the window at the bright day and his eyes opened wide as he looked at his arms; he kept thinking to himself that he was in the sunlight, and should have been smoking by now. He had no idea about the panel covered window behind him, but he was looking out at the city, and the ocean beyond with the sunlight hitting the city and reflecting off many of the towers.

Sunlight that didn't burn the vampire; sunlight he could walk under as he walked towards the window and smiled.

An extremely genuine smile of contentment; he was feeling the sunlight without killing him for the first time in over a hundred and fifty years. He then turned to a stunned group of people and was about to say something when Dawn stepped towards him and held on to his hands She told the surprised vampire that the windows weren't tinted, he was experiencing the full force of the Lantean sun.

"I guess the star in this solar system is safe for vampires," said Dawn as Spike looked at her, and then he turned to look back at the sun. Dawn then looked back at the others and smiled before she stood next to Spike and held his hand, "something I wanna show you guys."

Dawn pulled Spike out of the room and then she called on the others to follow her. They ran through hallways before they reached a staircase. Dawn let go of Spike's hand and ran up screaming in joy that she was home. The brunette ran up a few more flights of stairs until she, and the others, reached a room that contained several consoles. She walked over to the railing that looked down to a large room below with a giant ring shaped object at one end. The ring faced a central staircase that led to the room with the consoles, Stargate Operations.

"Oh my," said Giles as he looked at the ring and then ran down the stairs to the lower floor with Oz, who had already handed the toddler to Bay. They walked towards the ring and touched the metallic surface before looking around to Dawn. Giles was about to ask the grinning Dawn something when Oz tapped his shoulder and pointed at the stairs. Giles walked towards the stairs while he fixed his glasses as he looked at the symbols etched on the steps of the stairs. He then looked up at Dawn and was about to ask what the symbols meant when the brunette started talking to him in an unknown language.

Dawn smiled after she finished as Giles, and Oz looked at each other, and then at Dawn… as did Xander, Bay, and Spike.

"That's the Lantean language, isn't it?" asked Giles as he went deep into thought while rubbing his chin, "those words… they're… oh dear Lord, Dawn… that sounded like Latin. An ancient form of Latin… it may even predate that, but…"

"Where did you think the ancient Romans got it from?" asked Dawn as she looked at Giles, and then at the others before she grabbed Xander and Spike's hands and led them to the staircase, with Bay following them as a bright light flashed to Giles left side, and Thor materialized on his command chair. He looked around the room, and then at Dawn who nodded at him as she stepped onto the lower level.

"The city is as great as I suspected Hera," said Thor.

"Thank you, Supreme Commander," said Dawn as she let go of both Spike and Xander, and headed to Giles whose eyes suddenly opened wide, as if he had a major epiphany.

"The Ancient Ones!" shouted Giles as everyone, including Thor, turned to face the little boy who put his hands on his head and looked at Dawn, "Oh dear lord, the Ancient Ones."

"Giles?" asked Xander, "you're scaring us… well, me."

"Me too," said Oz as Bay nodded her head.

"A myth… they were a myth," said Giles as he looked at Dawn, "ancient Romans learned to build roads by a group of being they referred to as gods."

"Just like a Stargate network," said Dawn as she looked at the symbols at the staircase again, and then she looked at Giles before telling him the translation of what was written, "We hold these words as truth, welcome to those of other worlds visiting our world for the first time, welcome again to those returning home you have been gone for too long and your absence has weighed on our souls. We are whole now that you have returned, and celebrate you returning to us once again. As we leave for distant worlds, we pledge to respect the lands of our neighbours and to act with integrity as ambassadors of our people In peace time. Travellers with open hearts will always be welcome, and refugees from tyranny may seek shelter under our roof. Our people will lay down their lives to protect the weak and the just, let this be the pledge to the inhabitants of this world and all worlds we may ever know. Always come in peace, as we strive to go in peace and you will be welcome on our shores forevermore."

"Sounds familiar," said Xander as Dawn smiled at him, and then looked at Giles again.

"I'll teach you my language after we're done, Giles," said Dawn, "there's so many things I know you wanna know… but first."

Dawn then turned to Thor and asked him to fire a strong electromagnetic pulse at the city. She told the grey alien that many of her people had experiments running with the use of nanites to battle the Wraith… nanites that eventually gave rise to the replicators. She told them that she knew that these nanites weren't as advanced, so an electromagnetic pulse should be able to deactivate them. Thor nodded his head before pressing a button on his chair… after a few seconds, he looked up and told Dawn that his ship was prepared to fire in five seconds. Once the electromagnetic pulse wave had passed through the entirety of the city, Dawn ran up the central stairs before telling them that she would be right back. The brunette touched all the consoles before removing the clear covers; she then folded the covers and dropped them on the floor next to the activated consoles. Consoles that activated because of the gene in her body, the same gene that would be required to activated the vast majority of the technology in the city.

"Sorry," said Dawn as she ran down the stairs again, "had to run and get the consoles activated before…"

"Before?" asked Xander as he saw the young woman head to the mid-section of what he was going to be calling 'the Gateroom' and held out her hand as a control column came up from the floor. Dawn then held out her left hand as another column came up from the floor right next to the first one. The brunette then placed her left hand down on the surface of the new column. The others watched as the cover under the glass surface slid back to reveal five holes, and underneath those holes were five needle points. Dawn moved her fingers so that the tips were over those holes. Her face grimaced when the needles pricked her fingers all at once before the column then retreated back down.

Then Dawn placed her right hand on the first column that came up from the floor. As soon as she placed her hand on the glass at the top of the column, there was a light that scanned her palm before the blue lights along the column turned green in colour. It was then that a screen came up from behind the column as words in Ancient started forming.

Dawn recognized the words; 'Welcome High Councillor, do you wish full control over Atlantis?'

"Yes," said Dawn in the Lantean language. It was then that the screen retreated back into the column, followed by the column itself as the screens over at Stargate Operations now showed the seal of the High Councillor spinning in the background, indicating the entire city, including its sensors that would eventually connect it to the weapons outposts on Earth, were activated. Dawn then looked at Thor, who looked back at her and bowed his head in respect while the others looked on confused.

"High Councillor," said Thor while the others looked at Dawn surprised.

"Supreme Commander," said Dawn as she bowed her head in respect as well before they looked at each other, "I've unlocked all our data for the use of the Asgard, as we agreed. I recommend sifting through the last hundred years before we left Atlantis… that's when the war with the Wraith began. I think you'll find what you need there. In the meantime, I'll start the process of warming up the engines. We'll leave together since your hyperdrive still needs to be repaired."

"I agree," said Thor, "and thank you once again, High Councillor."

"Our people have always been allies," said Dawn smiling, "now we need each other more than ever."

"Agreed," said the grey alien, "I will return to my ship and connect our computer to the database on Atlantis."

Dawn nodded her head while telling Thor that they'll be in communications with each other. Once Thor left the Gateroom, Dawn looked at the other and shrugged her shoulders.

"High Councillor?" asked Xander.

"My father was the last High Councillor of Atlantis," said Dawn with a smile, "he was a great man. Heck, he was the one who forged the first Excalibur."

Dawn grinned at the stunned looks of Giles and the others before she turned and headed up the stairs to Stargate Operations while laughing loudly at the loud calls for Dawn from her companions as they followed the brunette up the stairs. It was something which made Dawn smile as she reached the consoles. She had started to press some buttons while looking at the screen in front of her, and when a specific set of symbols came up on the screen.. her face brightened before she pressed a few more buttons. All the while, Giles and the others were waiting for Dawn to clarify what she meant by her father being the one who forged the first Excalibur.

"Dawn," said Giles, "the only Excalibur that exists has been endowed with magic. This does not count the numerous Excaliburs that are sold as party favours and souvenirs. I can tell you that only one Excalibur exists, and it was created by Merlin; however, it is lost to the world."

Dawn pressed a few more buttons while telling Giles and the others, as well as Thor on the Belisknir through the communication system, that she was initiating the warm-up sequence for the Stardrive. She then grinned at Giles and said that he was wrong, that there was another one that exists, and that she'll take him to it once they've gotten rid of the Wraith.

"We have about four hours," said Dawn who turned away as Thor's head appeared on screen, "found anything yet on the cure? A weapon against the replicators?"

"Not as yet," said Thor as he shook his head, "however, I have an update on the situation on Earth."

"OK," said Dawn as she and the other walked up to the screen, "what've you got?"

"An Asgard scout vessel ran scans from a cloaked position," said Thor as Dawn nodded her head, "it was out of the Wraith's effective sensor range. They are continuing to fire at the planet; the scouting vessel has also detected debris of a ship, it is of an unknown design from what we have been able to ascertain, but from analysis of the pieces after some were beamed on board.. we can tell that it has been float in space for over eight of your hours. In addition, we can also confirm that raging battles are waging all over the planet, the human casualties are increasing, Hera."

"No time for a warm-up then," said Dawn shaking her head, as she headed to another console and pressed some buttons while Xander rushed to the young brunette and put his hand on her shoulders before turning her around gently."

"Dawnie," said Xander, "what happens if you don't do this whole warm-up thing?"

"The Stardrive hasn't been used in millions of years," said Dawn as she ran her hands through her hair in frustration, "the engines could blow, or… or some crystals could blow and…"

"What would happen if the crystals blew?" asked Bay.

"We'll be stuck in space unable to get back into hyperspace, or the ship could be destroyed," said Dawn softly as she looked at Bay, and then at the others before looking at Thor, "but if the situation's as bad as Thor described, then we need to leave. Supreme commander, will you be able to help with producing new crystals?"

"Yes," said Thor.

"Then we take the risk," said Dawn as she looked at Xander, "Xander, right now Buffy and the others are in danger. From what Thor just said… they may have launched the ship right after we left… Spike's ship and…"

"Oh, Bugger," said Spike while he was shaking his head and frowning, "my ship… at least the main ship was stolen by Wolfram and Heart so that they can use it to escape this dimension. It's advanced technology so…"

"Now the Wraith thinks we have advanced technology," said Giles, "those idiots launched the ship and… and now the Wraith will lay waste to Earth."

"Which is why we are taking off now," said Dawn as she headed to another console while Xander just stood still before he looked at Oz and the others. He then looked at Dawn who was frantically pressing buttons from one console to another while the screen behind them went back to just symbols flowing from one end to another.

"Dawnie," said Xander as he headed to the young brunette, and then gently grabbed her arm and turned her around to face him again, "are you sure about this? I like this whole 'take charge Dawn', but I'm not too into getting stranded somewhere in a galaxy far, far, away. And yeah, I want to help Buffy and Willow, everyone here wants to do the same... but there's no point in helping them if the city explodes before getting into hyperspace."

"There's a risk," said Dawn as she looked at Xander, and then at Giles, and the others, "if we leave now, there's a risk of something bad happening, but if nothing goes wrong, we'll arrive in time to prevent even more killing. Especially since we have to…"

Just as Dawn was about to say something else, the alarms in the city went off… followed by the familiar sounds made by the Stargate when there was the dialing in of an incoming wormhole. Thor's voice came through the speakers as Dawn rushed to one of the consoles and silenced the alarms, before heading to another console from where she looked with eyes wide open as the third symbol was locked.

"Hera," said Thor, "my sensors are reading an energy surge, you have an incoming wormhole."

"Oh dear God," said Dawn as she looked at the Stargate from her vantage point while Giles and Xander stood at the top of the central stairs, and Bay, Oz, Spike, and Kelden were at one of the railings near Stargate Operations as they looked down as the seventh symbol lit up. Once the eighth symbol lit up, Oz and the others jumped back as the unstable vortex of the wormhole surged outwards after millions of years, before it settled back down into the event horizon. Dawn then looked around the console and found the symbol she was looking for, the symbol for the Stargate shield. Dawn told everyone that the shield was raised, and now nothing could come through the wormhole.

"My word," said Giles as he ran down the stairs when he saw the silver shimmer cover the blue event horizon, with Xander hot on his heels while a stunned Spike stayed next to Bay, Oz and Kelden, and looked down at what looked like a blue pool of water inside the ring. Spike then turned around when Dawn said that someone was hailing them.

"This is Hera Ren, High Councilor of the Lantean city-ship, Atlantis," said Dawn as she spoke after having turned on the communications system while Thor beamed down in his command chair next to the brunette, "if this is a prelude to an invasion of this City, know that there is a shield in place and…"

"Dawn? Dawn? Is that you?"

Dawn looked up at everyone surprised when she heard the unfamiliar voice of the man on the other end of the wormhole. She looked at the looks of confusion on everyone, including Giles and Xander who ran back up the stairs, and then to Dawn's side.

"Who is this?" asked Dawn as she shook her head, "how do you know my name, and…"

"I know this is going to be hard to believe," said the voice of the man, "but I'm calling from Gaia, the Nox homeworld. And before you continue, let me finish what I have to say. I have proof that there are things I know about you."

"Ok," said Dawn confused.

"The Nox?" asked Giles as he looked at Thor, "one of the races of the Alliance, right?"

"Yes," replied Thor, "but even this is a situation the Asgard have never encountered. The Nox keep to themselves."

"Dawn," said the man's voice interrupting Thor, "your full name is Dawn Summers. Your sister is Buffy Summers, and your sister before you ascended, and then sacrificed your immortality to become the vessel of the key, was Athena Ren. Your father was Moros, and your mother's name was Melina. Joyce Summers is the name of your mother after you became the Key. Am I right so far?"

"Yes," said Dawn as she knitted her eyebrows, "but…."

"We hoped that things would turn out the way they were supposed to turn out," said the man, "but obviously things didn't since the Nox received your call for aid, and then woke us up. Dawn, I'm from an alternate timeline. Something happened back in Ancient Egypt and… this is a long story. What I can tell you that in my timeline, you've just been admitted into the Air Force academy because you wanted to follow Buffy and Willow who joined a classified Air Force project known as the Stargate Program."

Dawn had her mouth opened in surprise as she looked down at the console, and then back up at Xander, Oz, Spike, and Bay. She then looked at Thor who said that it was entirely possible, the grey alien then asked Dawn if he could ask a question.

Dawn nodded her head before Thor spoke out, "I am Thor, Supreme…"

"Good to hear from you, Thor," said the man as Thor and Dawn looked at each other, and then at the console, "I know what you're going to ask. Yes, we know you… in fact, in my timeline we were good friends. Your people helped with our exploration of space… you were instrumental in gifting us hyperdrive and shielding technology."

"We do not share technology with…"

"The Asgard changed their policy… I mean you guys never gave us any weapons even though Jack always bugged you," said the man with a chuckle, "we helped you defeat the replicators, and Willow helped you to cure your disease. And…"

"There is a cure?" asked a surprised Thor.

"Yes," said the man, "as for the weapon to beat the replicators.. I'm guessing that something should be in Atlantis. The only way we were able to get that information on our own was for my best friend to download the entire repository of Knowledge into his head."

"That's not possible," said Dawn and Thor together.

"He did it," said the man, "once. He was the reason that Baldur said the humans of Earth had the potential to become the Fifth Race. And then the Willow of my timeline did it. Anyway, the Jaffa… the Jaffa are now free, at least in my timeline they are. The truth is that we don't know what happened to the timeline. We were expecting the alternate version of our team, SG-1, to come through the Stargate to Gaia like we did before in my timeline. Once that happened, we would be woken up. But since that never happened, we remained in extended stasis for a few more years. And then Dawn's message came through the Alliance frequency, and then the Nox realized something was wrong, and they woke us up. We guessed that the only place you could go to would be Atlantis because of the Wraith orbiting Earth. So here we are. We're offering our help, High Councelior; and because this is the first time I'm be stepping through the Atlantis Stargate. Twice... did you know that? Twice I had the opportunity to go to Atlantis, and twice I was denied… I swear to God that the last time was the closest I'd ever been to the city. Damn that Vala."

"What's a Vala?" asked Oz.

"Space Pirate," said the man, "who is that?"

"Ummm… Oz?" said Oz nervously.

"Oh, Willow's ex," said the man as Oz looked at Bay, and then at the console again.

"You said you worked with Willow and Buffy," said Dawn, "where are they?"

"They died," said the man's voice sadly, "I can explain everything you in person… we can explain everything to you in person. But what I can say is that the Willow Rosenberg and Buffy Summers of my timeline are dead."

"Ho…. How?" asked Dawn as her hands trembled.

"We need to speak in person, Dawn," said the man, "please."

"You're clear to come through," said Dawn as she lowered the shield and then headed down the staircase followed by Spike, and Xander who told Giles and the others to stay up in the control room in case this was a trap. Dawn was standing in the middle of Xander and Spike when the event horizon rippled as a brown haired man with glasses walked through, and behind him was someone that made Xander and Spike's jaws drop, while Dawn gave a scream as she jumped back and put her hands over her mouth. With the wormhole now disengaged, Giles and the others ran to the top of the stairs upon hearing Dawn's scream.

And their jaws dropped as well, all except for Thor who floated down the stairs on his command chair and headed to the two newcomers.

"Oh dear lord," said Giles as he looked at the short haired blonde woman, the same woman whose death caused Willow to nearly destroy the world; a blonde, brown eyed witch who the redhead loved with all her heart.

"Hi," said the man as the woman walked up to him and smiled shyly at the others while waving at them, "my name is Dr. Daniel Jackson."

"Dr. Tara Maclay-Rosenberg," said the young woman as Dawn, Xander, and Giles fainted.

TBC

 


	9. Chapter 9

**The Summers Residence, years ago.**

Dawn was sitting on one side of Willow and Tara's room looking at the pale body that lay before her. She saw the red spot on the blonde's shirt, and she was hoping that it was just a ruse. Dawn knew it wasn't however, she knew deep down in her heart that it wasn't… she knew that the blonde lying on the floor was dead. Still, Dawn hoped that it was a joke, that the blonde's chest would rise and fall.

But she was dead.

Dawn sat against the wall looking at the young blonde with her knees held against her chest and silently cried. What else could she do upon coming into an empty house after school and finding the dead body of a woman who was like a second mother to her. They were both alone; and Dawn didn't dare leave the blonde's body… she didn't want Tara's body to be alone.

It was then she heard footsteps coming to the door, Dawn stood up and wiped her eyes as she looked at the corridor outside the room. She was standing at a corner of the bed when she moved to stay close to the dead blonde as a shadow appeared on the wall. A shadow that was getting smaller and smaller the more Dawn was headed to the dead body lying on the floor. It was a few seconds later that Dawn's eyes widened when the splitting image of the dead body lying on the floor appeared at the doorway; she was nearly a splitting image, except for the fact that the woman in front of her had short shoulder length hair, and she looked older than the woman who was lying on the floor. Dawn looked at the uniform that she was wearing; it was black in colour with an Air Force logo on one sleeve and another logo that said 'SGC' on top of it, then the other sleeve had a patch with the words 'SG-1' written on it. Dawn saw the woman look back at her with a smile before she looked down at herself, and then back up at Dawn and apologized.

Dawn looked on confused as the woman's uniform changed into an orange shirt and blue jeans. And then she spoke again to the stunned brunette.

"Dawnie," said the woman as she took one step into the room with her hands clasped in front of her, "you've been out for ten minutes. I've done all I can to wake you up, but… Xander and Giles are slowly coming to and… you gotta tell me what happened to Giles and Xander; anyway… I need you to wake up, Honey."

"Who are you?"

"I told you who I am, Dawnie," said Tara as she took one more step, "Dr. Tara Maclay-Rosenberg, the Willow of my timeline was… was my wife."

"Oh," said Dawn with her eyes wide open as Tara took another step forward.

"You weren't waking up despite everything I tried," said Tara, "so I came into your mind to see if I can coax you out. I found myself here, and I searched for you downstairs and then I came up here and… and is this memory important... or…"

"You… you died," said Dawn as tears flowed down her cheeks again while she brought her hands over her mouth and closed her eyes, "this is the day you died."

Tara walked slowly around the bed while Dawn just stood there sobbing with her eyes closed. The older blonde woman steeled herself for what she was going to see, and when she saw her own dead body with a hole through her chest just lying on the floor with the eyes open and looking up at the ceiling; all Tara could do was close her eyes. She had seen death, more death than she had seen in a life time. But seeing her own body lying on the floor was something different, opening her eyes again.. she rushed to Dawn and quickly turned her away from the body and hugged her. Tara could feel the brunette's arms going around her as she held on tight while Dawn rested her head on Tara's shoulder and sobbed loudly.

"I'm sorry, honey," said Tara gently while she stroked the back of Dawn's head as the brunette sobbed, "shhhh… I know this is a lot to take in, but I need you to wake up. Come on, Dawn. Wake up."

**Atlantis, Gateroom, Now.**

Tara opened her eyes to find themselves back in the Atlantis Gateroom where Dawn was holding to her tight, and sobbing. She looked at the surprised Xander who was stumbling away from Daniel who had woken him up, and then she looked at Giles who was sitting up after he had just come to thanks to Oz, Bay's and Spike's help. The blonde witch then looked at Daniel before looking at Xander, wondering what happened to his eye, and then she did a double take on Spike. There was something different about him that she could see; the dark aura that represented vampires, but with a bright ball of light in the middle. Tara had seen it once before; the day that she connected Buffy's soul to Angel's so that the latter wouldn't lose his soul, it was six months later that the two of them were married. And then another six months later that SG-1 made a trip to Earth's past, to Ancient Egypt.

Spike had a soul.

"You have a soul?" asked Tara as Spike looked back at her. He was still surprised about what was happening; because of that, he didn't hear Tara the first time. Spike heard what Willow tried to do after losing the love of her life to the bullet of a psychopath, and now…. here on an alien city was the alternate version of the woman that Willow loved. He could see that she was different, much more older… and a bit more confident than the one that he knew; different, but there were things that were still the same.

He looked into her eyes and he saw someone who had seen battle, who had seen people die… he saw someone who had killed. But there was also the same compassion in there that he had seen in the Tara he knew, the same Tara who was always kind to him.

Spike knew that they were different, but still the same.

"Yea.. yea," said Spike as he looked at Tara while Dawn held on tightly sobbing her eyes out.

Spike then looked at Giles as the bespectacled man, who identified himself as Danie,l rushed up the stairs to the young boy.

"Mr. Giles?" asked Daniel as Oz and Spike helped Giles stand up, "what happened to you?"

"How… how is this possible?" asked Giles ignoring the question while he was looking at Daniel. At the same time, Dawn relaxed her hold on Tara and pulled back to looked into the blonde woman's eyes.

"You're Tara," said Dawn softly as she started to laugh, "you're Tara!"

Dawn hugged Tara again, and the blonde couldn't help but smile at Daniel who was looking back at her from the top of the stairs. He then looked at Oz and told him it was nice to see him again.

"You know me?" asked Oz as he shook the man's hand.

"Willow's ex," said Daniel, "in my timeline, you're a recruiter for an organization that deals with supernatural threats."

"Oh," said Oz as he shook his head before he introduced Bay, and their son.

"Congrats, Oz," said Tara as she and Dawn stood up, the blonde wiping away Dawn's tears.

"Ummm…" said Spike as he put his hand up, "how did all this happen again? Sorry to say this, T. But…"

"I'm dead," said Tara as she looked at Dawn, who looked back at her while Daniel opened his eyes wide in surprise. Tara then turned to Daniel and told him that she had seen her alternate's body in Dawn's memories.

"I'm sorry," said Daniel while he looked at Dawn who nodded her head, and then he looked at Giles, and Xander.

Thor then repeated Spikes' question of how it was that the two of them could exist.

"It was a few months after we defeated Anubis," said Daniel as Tara put her arm around Dawn and headed to the stairs, "I received the entire collection of Katherine Langford and…"

"Langford?" asked Giles in surprise, "as in Paul Langford's daughter? She's alive?"

"Was," said Daniel, "she died and…."

"Giles," said Tara noticing the expression of Giles face, and the flash in his aura, "there's something you're not telling us."

"Paul Langford died in a plane crash on the way to Egypt in the 1928," said Giles while Tara and Daniel looked at each other in surprise, "my grandfather knew him, and was upset when he heard the news. His wife and daughter were on that same flight."

"Then he wasn't there to discover the box," said Daniel as he looked at Tara who shook her head in shock, "Tara, the box with everything we left for them to find the second Stargate in Antarctica, the tablet I wrote; they never discovered it."

"And because of that," whispered Tara as she looked at Daniel, and then at a stunned Dawn, "there was no Stargate Program here?"

"Damn it," said Daniel as he sat on the stairs while everyone looked on.

"What we changed," said Tara as she closed her eyes and shook her head, "oh goddess, nature reacted and… and must have changed everything in subtle ways."

"What do you mean?" asked Bay.

"Like Daniel said, he received items from Katherine's estate in our timeline," said Tara, "one such item was the first edition of the Egyptian Rituals of the Dead."

"My word," said Giles, "I was looking for that."

"Anyway," said Tara, "Daniel found a drawing of a ZPM inside it… it was like a decorative piece but we knew it was a ZPM."

"ZPM?" asked Dawn.

"Zero-Point Module," said Daniel, "the Ancient word for it is Potentia?"

"You know my language?" asked Dawn surprised.

"The both of us do," said Tara as she looked at Dawn, and then at Giles and the others, "we know Ancient, Goa'uld, and the Asgard language. I know a bit of the Nox, and a few Earth languages. Not as much as Daniel though, he's still the world's foremost authority on the Ancients. Back to how we're here? We needed a ZPM to dial Atlantis, we have a team there so having a power source would mean we could make sure that they were safe, and send reinforcements if we had to. But since we didn't have one on hand, we decided to use a Puddle Jumper that Janus built…. A time machine. So…."

"You went back in time," said Thor as Tara nodded her head, "but something went wrong."

"It was a mistake," said Daniel softly as he rubbed in forehead as he tried to make sense of the consequences, "Sam didn't want us to play with time, neither did Willow. But having a ZPM would mean we could defend Earth using the weapons systems in the Antarctic, and Death Valley. So Teal'c, Jack, Me, and Buffy convinced Sam, Tara, and Willow. We promised to be careful with the timeline. It was supposed to be so easy. Just move in, grab the ZPM without anyone seeing us, and then get out."

"Teal'c?" asked Thor as he tilted his head, "he is a Jaffa?"

"He turned on the Goa'uld," said Tara as she looked at the grey alien, "because of him; the Jaffa rebellion happened… they gained their freedom from the Goa'uld. But now… what have we done?"

"We can't fix what we did, Tara," said Daniel, "we help as much as we can right now to beat the Wraith, and then maybe help the Jaffa free themselves."

"We grabbed the ZPM," continued Daniel as he looked at the others, "we were nearly at the Puddle Jumper, which was cloaked. But there was a dust storm the previous night, and the sand outlined the ship; so by the time we returned to the ship, there was an army guarding it, along with death gliders in the air."

"Willow and I thought that we could handle all of them," said Tara, "but Sam convinced us that we needed to be cautious. I think one of the villagers we met earlier was a shill for Ra, his Jaffa were there for us. They knew that a group of people from a distant land had come to take away something that belonged to him. Willow and I gave us cover so that we could get away from the ship… we were afraid that using our powers would damage the timeline. There were too many Jaffa, and death gliders to get through so we retreated back to the village and we were hidden by a group of allies. With Willow's help, they found the traitor and executed him. The thing is, if we made one mistake and used our powers with those we couldn't trust; then if we died, Ra could use a sarcophagus on our bodies and revive us from death. Then he could implant our bodies with a symbiote."

"Creating a much larger problem," said Thor as Tara nodded her head.

"We knew about the rebellion that sent Ra away from Earth," said Daniel, "but Sam wanted us to lay low, let history take its course. The truth was that Ra knew something was going to happen because of that mole. So we followed Sam's lead and lay low for about six months until everything died down. Teal'c, Jack, and Buffy couldn't take it.. so we spent another six months planning the rebellion."

"I was there," said Dawn as she looked at Tara and Daniel, "I was there when the rebellion took place, I didn't see any of you. And Athena was with me."

"That must have been the second rebellion you and Athena saw," said Daniel as Dawn looked at him with a frown, "for the first one, we tried to do too much, too fast. We thought our meetings were secure, we thought our war council was secure. We couldn't check the entire village for traitors, so we only gave critical information to those in our Council. And to make sure that they never told anyone, Willow and Tara would scan their minds, and perform a truth spell. Every time they were clean."

"The night before the rebellion was supposed to take place," said Tara as she teared up and closed her eyes, "Willow and I were outside the tent where we were having our meeting. I went in to check on something after using my magic to scan the village for any threats. I kissed Willow before getting inside, I told her I loved her and… and then the next thing I know there was a dart sticking out the back of her neck. And then there were more darts, as well as plasma fire that was aimed towards the tent, and us. Willow covered me with her body since her telekinesis wasn't working. A dart hit me too and I found I couldn't use magic…. I felt my muscles get weak and then I passed out."

"We heard the commotion and got out of there with our weapons," said Daniel as he walked down the stairs and hugged Tara, while Dawn stood to one side as everyone else listened, "Ra's Jaffa stormed the village, and.. and we fought. Some of the villagers who against Ra fought bravely, while some tried to escape. But the Jaffa were ruthless and… and they killed half of the village. I took Tara and brought her into the tent, and then one of the people we trusted took her down to an underground room. There was another passageway down there which was supposed to be used in case of emergency. Only two people outside SG-1 knew about that, and we trusted them with our lives. They were the ones who took Tara through the passageway... a passageway that Tara had created using magic. It was hell on the surface... plasma blasts shredded the tent and the surrounding areas. Bodies were everywhere… I saw Jack shot down when he went to get Willow's body… whatever she was hit with, shut down her powers. She was hit in the back with a staff blast."

"Oh God," said Xander.

"Buffy was the next one," said Daniel as he looked at Dawn who shook her head, "she was every bit the Slayer. She beat four Jaffa with her bare hands before she and Teal'c were fired on by death gliders. They died instantly. We were surrounded by then, and Sam pulled me away. She guessed that someone talked; we got into the lower room and… and she pushed me though the secondary passageway before she closed it behind her. Before closing it, she told us to run, that if the other Jaffa didn't find us, then they would keep coming after us. So she stayed, she gave her life in her last stand. There were some C-4 we kept hidden for emergency purposes and.. and she detonated that. We were alive, they were dead."

"We waiting until morning," said Tara as she wiped her tears while struggling to think about that horrible day, "we got out through a cave a mile from the village. Daniel, me and a few others went back to the village; we made sure that the Jaffa were gone. Out of a village of two hundred? They massacred sixty; they killed ten more as a show of force, and then… then those monsters put Jack's, Buffy's, and Teal'c's heads on sharp pikes as a warning. I saw then collecting Willow's dead body.. they were going to take it to Ra. I… I knew what needed to be done. I placed a glamour on her body, changed her appearance, and… and then the Jaffa who were looking away at the time… they.. they found someone else lying there. We heard the Jaffa shouting at his subordinates on how they could have let Willow escape. And… and I saw the First Prime fire his weapon at Willow in anger. And then… then he… he cut off her head."

Daniel hugged Tara tight while the others looked at them stunned. The archaeologist then continued by saying that the Jaffa then put up another pike that had Sam's shredded uniform; he said that they believed that her body was too badly mangled to put up as a show.

"Who betrayed you?" asked Thor.

"One of the council members slipped information about the final meeting to his wife, he told her about Willow and me, and…" said Tara after she had calmed down after crying softly as she remembered the death of her wife, and the part she played, "we met before. She was a nice woman, I even tested her and she was clean. But… but maybe Ra got to her.. and… and she talked. The Council member was sorry about what happened, but.. it it was too late. She was still alive, but injured; but because of her, innocents died, Willow, Buffy, Jack, Teal'c, and Sam died. There was no trial… I killed her."

"Tara?" asked Dawn in surprise while Spike and the others looked at her in silence, wondering if they heard correctly.

"We spent the next five years planning and slowly gathering allies," said Daniel, "we did too much, too fast the first time. Maybe the man's wife was scared, maybe she told someone who happened to be a supporter of Ra… we don't know what happened. All we know is that, we had to be careful for the next time. Tara honed her magic, and I stated training people; I've been going through the Stargate, being in battle for over six years. I was the only one who could train them."

"I joined in too," said Tara, "at first, back when I first joined the SGC, I was going for just low risk missions… you know, ruins here and ruins there. But eventually, I started training with the higher speced weapons like the P90.. I mean Willow helped a lot when we weren't… we weren't just by ourselves."

"Too much information," said Daniel as he nudged Tara, who gave a chuckled while she was deep in thought.

"Anyway," said Tara, "I used a glamour spell to hide what me and Daniel really looked like every time we had these meetings… so you could imagine the cloak and dagger stuff that went on. Eventually we started guerrilla attacks on Ra's Jaffa, gathering as many weapons as possible, and hiding them."

"Then," said Daniel, "when they least expected it…. We struck. Every village started to kill their Jaffa and their collaborators. Eventually, there was a total uprising. We cheered when Ra left in his ship, and then we noticed that he took the Stargate with him. Tara sealed a box containing the ZPM, a video camera, and a tablet I wrote detailing the location of the second Stargate with magic before we buried it."

"Magic?" asked Dawn as she looked at Giles and the others and then at Daniel and Tara.

"So that nothing could get inside" said Tara, "think if it like mystical vacuum packing."

"Ummm…" said Giles, "about that… how long do you think it could survive without magic?"

"Why wouldn't magic be…." Said Tara as she looked at the others, and then she noticed the looks that Dawn and the Scoobies were giving each other, "what happened?"

"For a year… maybe more," said Dawn as she grimaced, "Buffy kinda ended magic on Earth."

"Huh?" asked Tara as she looked at Dawn with her mouth hanging open in abject shock before speaking again, "she did what now?"

Giles then told them about the First Evil, the destruction of Sunnydale, the activation of all the Slayers, the destruction of the seed of wonder, Twilight, and then the restoration of magic.

"Wow," said Tara, "Willow seems to have gotten powerful."

"The most powerful witch on Earth," said Xander proudly as Tara gave a small smile, "how about your Willow?"

"She didn't do much magic," said Tara softly as Daniel noticed the look on her face as she looked down, and then put his arm around her shoulder, "but she helped design the Daedalus with Sam, and she was about to submit a new ship design…. She wanted to call it the Tara Class."

"Which would have been so cool," said Daniel as Tara looked at him and smiled, before looking away.

"I asked her to call it the Avalon class," said Tara, "I was the magic user for our team, and she focused more on her Ancient powers. So… power-wise, the Willow of now… your Willow is pretty strong. I'm impressed… but she's not my Willow, Xander."

"I know," said the one eyed man, "but she's going to be so happy to see you and…. Wait, you said your last name was Rosenberg."

"We got married at Jack's cabin," said Tara with a smile as she remembered that day perfectly, "Jack and Sam gave me away, and Willow's parents gave her away. You were there with Anya and…"

"Anya's alive?" asked Xander as Dawn looked at the look on his face and walked over to him and held his arm, "I mean…."

"Are you and her…" said Daniel as Dawn shook her head, "oh."

"She died in the final battle with the First," said Xander.

"I'm sorry," said Tara.

"How about Buffy?" asked Dawn as she sat down on the stairs while Tara walked towards her, and then sat down next to the brunette.

"Buffy married Angel," said Tara, "Amy and I worked on a spell that anchored Angel's soul to Buffy."

"Amazing," said Giles as Tara shrugged, "and you said you're not powerful. Tara, that takes skill and.."

"I did what I did for a friend's happiness," said Tara, "Buffy got married only a month ago from my point of view. You know how many guys we tried to hook her up with? We tried with Spike, an Academy friend of Willow's, a friend of mine, and then…"

"How about Faith?" snickered Spike as he nudged Xander who looked at him with his eyes narrowed.

"Faith was adopted by Mrs. Summers and she became…"

"Mom was alive?" asked Dawn as her eyes went wide open, while Giles and the others looked at each other in stunned silence before looking at Tara, and then at Daniel who nodded his head, "she… she didn't die?"

"Dawn," said Daniel as Tara looked at him nervously, "there's some things you need to know, but for right now… we need to concentrate on the Wraith and…"

"Please," said Dawn as she started to tear up, "did she die?"

"Dawnie," said Tara as she looked at the brunette, "is Mrs. Summer's gone? In this timeline, I mean."

"Yea," said Dawn softly.

"You know there's no way to bring her back from the dead," said Tara gently as she placed her hand gently on Dawn's hand, "I'm sorry, Dawnie… you know that's true. But for right now, we need to concentrate on the Wraith."

"Can you imagine our reactions when the Nox woke us up after nearly five thousand years and…"

"That's the other thing," said Giles as he interrupted Daniel. "how are you two still alive?"

"We hid the Jumper," said Daniel, "so after the uprising, we wanted to leave the Ancient Egyptians alone… you know, just let history take its course like we were supposed to do. So Tara and I agreed that the best way to do that would be to lay low and stay out of history's way."

"But I wanted to see Willow again," said Tara.

"The only other advanced race we knew were the Nox," said Daniel, "so we used the Stargate in the Antarctic to travel to Gaia after we blasted a hole in the cave it was located in open…. Which I'm guessing has closed up again. Anyway, we travelled to Gaia, told the Nox of the time who we were and that we needed their help."

"I had an idea that combined magic, with Nox technology," said Tara, "it took me a few years but I became an expert in wielding Gaia's magic, along with some techniques that the Nox taught me. At the same time, Daniel became an expert on the Nox too."

Daniel just shrugged and grinned while Tara chuckled and shook her head.

"With the help of a few Nox," said Tara, "I came up with a spell that would slow down our aging considerably while we were placed into stasis. It would be a deep sleep, near death, type situation. The only way that the Nox would know we're still alive is by reading our aura's… which I tell you that they're the ultimate experts."

"Fascinating," said Giles.

"And then we went to sleep," said Tara, "I used the spell on us both, and then we were frozen. Then the next thing we know, we're being brought out and Lya, one of the Nox, is telling us that they received an emergency transmission on an Alliance frequency."

"It took us about eight hours to get our bearings before we could even hear the message," said Tara, "not as easy as you think it is…. You know, staying asleep for about five thousand years."

"What's the plan?" asked Daniel as he looked at Dawn.

"Thor received intelligence that Earth launched a ship that Wolfram and Hart used to escape the entire Twilight thing and… and well, it's been destroyed," said Dawn, "and the Wraith don't want a planet to have advanced technology. I think the Wraith are gonna kill even more people, and that's why I'm launching now and…"

"She wants to launch without warming up the engines," said Xander as he looked at Daniel.

"Dawn," said Tara, "gently, take it slow… I know you're worried about Buffy… but if you launch now without preparations. Then people will die."

"But…" said Dawn.

"Our friends died because we rushed our plans," said Daniel as Dawn looked at him, "Willow, Buffy, Sam, Jack, Teal'c… we lost them because we rushed. Take it slow."

"That would be my recommendation as well, Hera," said Thor, "and in the meantime, I would like to speak to Dr. Jackson and Tara Maclay-Rosenberg in regards to the Asgard of their timeline."

"Thor," said Tara, "for the cure, you needed Willow… she had both the Ancient and Furling genes activated at once and that created some kind of a protein marker that you and Heimdall used to create a cure."

"We have the Ancient gene sequence on my ship," said Thor as he looked up at Tara.

"I have the Furling gene," said Tara as Thor's eyes went wide open, "the Thor from my timeline said that the two genes need to be in one living body for the protein markers to from."

"Would you care to accompany me to my ship?" asked Thor asked as he looked at Tara who nodded her head. It was then that Daniel told Thor that while they were searching for the Anti-Replicator weapon, the grey alien needed to tell his people that they needed to use the kinetic energy of their Ion cannons to destroy the links between each replicator block; he told Thor that the SGC's kinetic energy weapons would destroy the replicators permanently. Thor told Daniel that he'll let the others know so that they could buy some extra time. He and Tara then vanished in a flash of light, leaving just Daniel and the other Scoobies.

"Dawn," said Giles, "you know that Xander and Dr. Jackson are right. We're no use to Buffy and the others dead."

"I know," said Dawn as she shook her head before looking at Giles, "but I want to go back after we replenish the Poten… I mean the ZPM's and…"

"Wait, replenish?" asked Daniel as Dawn looked at her, "you mean there are production facilities for ZPM's?"

"Yea," said Dawn, "you didn't know?"

"We searched planets using a program that Willow and Sam worked on to detect traces of energy given off by inactive ZPM's," said Daniel, "but I know we haven't even scratched the surface, but so far we've been unsuccessful… I mean we detected outposts, but not the ZPM's themselves."

"The location of all production facilities are known to those with Councillor access to the Atlantis database," said Dawn, "I unlocked the entire database and… and I'll be stopping at the closest facility once we enter the Milky Way for the ZPM's and the drones before we leave for Earth."

"Fascinating," said Daniel as he fixed his glasses while he looked around, "do you mind if I look around? This has been my dream for nearly two years, and… and finally being here is bitter sweet."

"Actually," said Dawn, "I was hoping that… I mean… can you help in finding out the Anti-Replicator weapon?"

"Yeah, sure," said Daniel as he rushed up the stairs, with Giles following him while asking the bespectacled Archaeologist if he could give him some rudimentary lessons on the Ancient language. Dawn then looked at the others and asked them if they wanted to get some sleep since they had a few hours to kill.

"I want to spend some time in the sun," said Spike as Dawn nodded her head and showed Spike the way to the main balcony. The vampire then ran up the stairs and followed Dawn's directions; the brunette then turned to face Oz, Bay, and Kelden before telling them that she'll take them to one of the rooms.

"Kelden looks exhausted," said Dawn with a smile.

"He's just excited," said Bay.

"You gonna be ok?" asked Oz, "I mean… I mean hearing about Willow and Buffy and… alternate timelines. I mean, it feels as if we're not supposed to be here."

"That's why they couldn't change the timeline," said Dawn as she looked up the stairs and heard Daniel explain the language to Giles. She then looked at Oz again and explained, "going back in time after they woke up could have damaged the timeline even more… so they decided to stay."

"I wonder what Willow's going to say," asked Oz softly as he thought about Tara, and then he remembered how upset the redhead was at her Tara's funeral.

"She's gonna freak out," said Dawn as she walked with Oz and Bay to a room a few floors below the Gateroom.

**The Cotswolds, England, Entrance to the Deeper Well.**

Led by Buffy, a team of twenty Slayers were brought to the Cotswolds by Willow nearly eight hours ago; along with a few vengeance demons thanks to D'hoffryn. However, with the Wraith still attacking major cities, the British government was unable to provide any military back-up for the Slayers; although back in New Zealand, the Slayers and vengeance demons led by Vi and Rona were joined by some members of that nation's military forces. Back in the Cotswald's Buffy and Willow were taking a break near the entrance while the other Slayers were spread out, along with the vengeance demons. They had been here for a little over eight hours and still not attacked by Wolfram and Hart so that they could release the Old Ones.

"How long's it been, Will?" asked Buffy as she fidgeted while holding onto the Scythe and looking around their surroundings.

"Since the last time you asked?" asked Willow as she looked at her best friend, "five minutes…. For a grand total of eight hours and five minutes."

"Ha ha ha," said Buffy as the redhead chuckled before closing her eyes and concentrating, "I've got news from Rona and the others… they've got nothing yet. Kennedy and Faith's killed twelve of those Wraith and.. and what Dawn said was right. They tried to feed on Faith and some of the other Slayers, but the process was slow. Faith and Kennedy, and some of the other Slayers managed to kill them before they could finish the job. We haven't lost anymore Slayers. If Slayers and witches see those…. What was it that Dawn called them? Darts? Yeah.. Darts…. If they see those Darts, they take cover."

"How many humans dead?" asked Buffy.

"They're saving who they can," said Willow as she looked at Buffy before looking out into the distance once again, "where are they? Eve swore that Wolfram and Hart would be releasing the Old Ones and…"

"Maybe they saw the force we have here," said Buffy looking at Willow, "I'm sure they have seers of their own who told them we're here."

"Maybe," said Willow as she shook her head before she looked down at the grass and thought back to that kiss from Kennedy.

"So…. You and Kennedy," said Buffy as Willow looked up at her grinning best friend, "and that kiss… wow. In front of the President no less."

"She was worried," said Willow shrugging her shoulders as she kept on looking at the ground before looking back up at Buffy, "I was worried about her too but… but she's not for me. I mean… I know there was that whole thing with Alluwyn, then the gymnast a few months back and… oh she was so flexible and…"

"I don't wanna know," said Buffy as she put her fingers into her ears while Willow chuckled.

"But with Kennedy?" asked Willow as Buffy removed her fingers from her ear and looked at the redhead, "no… I mean we broke up for a reason and.. and the thing is that the reason was because I was worried that being around you would get her killed and…"

"You told me," said Buffy gently as Willow shook her head.

"That was just an excuse, Buffy," said Willow, "the truth is that every girl I've ever met; Kennedy, Alluwyn, Kary, Aura, Cathy… I was comparing to the one I really loved."

"Tara," said Buffy as she nodded her head.

"And this is the end of the world, Buffy," said Willow as she looked up at her, "and all I wanna do is share it with Tara. But she's gone so… so maybe I'll fight and die alone, with no one to love. I mean really love."

"It's not the end of the world," said Buffy, "Dawn's gonna come back. We will hold the line and…. And you're gonna do your thing because you're this planet's most powerful witch and… hey… you saying you don't love me?"

Willow smirked at the blonde Slayer before shaking her head.

"I love you like the way I love Xander," said Willow.

"Hey," said Buffy in mock outrage, "you tried to seduce Xander during the whole love-spell incident back in Sunnydale. You saying that I can't seduce you, or…"

"This conversation just went sideways," laughed Willow as Buffy looked on and started laughing as well. The redhead then calmed down for a few moments before pointing at Buffy, "you experimented with Satsu, and by then I was already broken up with Kennedy… so you had a shot at me and you didn't take it. So, if you think about it, you did have a chance in seducing me, but you didn't take it."

Buffy just narrowed her eyes at Willow who was trying her best not to laugh at the expression on the Slayer's face.

"I mean Satsu said you're good," continued Willow as she hid her chuckle while Buffy's mouth opened wide, "and your face was just like that when you went all screaming 'oh God, oh God'."

"Hey," said Buffy as she leaned forward and lightly slapped Willow's arm, leading the redhead to fall on the grass in laughter. Buffy then shook her head and started to laugh as the both of them lay down next to each other and looked up at the sky.

"We're gonna survive this, right," said Willow as she turned her head towards Buffy who was looking back at her.

"Yea," said the blonde, "we are gonna survive this and then…."

"Buffy!" shouted one of the Slayers as Buffy and Willow sat up quickly, and then stood up. They turned towards the Slayer who just shouted, and then looked at where she was pointing. It was then that Willow eyes opened wide up when she noticed the ripples in the air that tore open a blue rift.

"It's a teleportation field," shouted Willow as she raised herself into the air while gathering magical energy around her body, "Buffy… you… oh God, these aren't demons coming through…. Wraith!"

"What?" asked Buffy as several Darts flew out of the rift as Willow fired magical blasts at them, managing to destroy four while the other Darts that flew in through the rift fired at the magical shield she set up around herself. With herself as the only air based target, the Darts hit her with their energy weapons while forty Wraith were thrown into the field around the entrance to the Deeper Well. Buffy looked at the Wraith all around them as they stood up after falling onto the ground from another rift, before looking around confused, at least until they saw the Slayers and the vengeance demons. Buffy saw them lift their weapons with grins on their faces before she screamed, "take cover!"

Buffy glanced up at Willow firing magical blasts at the Darts, destroying a few while they were shooting back at her. In the meantime, Buffy used her scythe and threw it at one of the Wraith.. the sharp blade sinking into the skull of one of the Wraith to which she then ran and pulled out the sharp weapon before she threw the energy weapon it had been firing until its death at one of the other Slayers. She told the dark haired woman to fire at the Wraith, and she did. However, more darts started coming through the rift, more than Willow could take alone. Then, to her horror, the darts started taking up Slayers and vengeance demons.

"Willow!" shouted Buffy when she realized that it was all a trap. The Senior Partners wanted Slayers to be stationed here, that's why they had given them the information on wanting to open the Hellmouths and releasing the Old Ones, "shit…. it's a trap!"

Willow, hearing what Buffy said while telepathically talking to her on the possibility that the Senior Partners needed to get rid of the Slayers before starting their own apocalypse could have used some of their own witches to create rifts, and then gather and send darts and Wraith soldiers to the Cotswolds to kill them. And with Buffy being the unifying leader for the Slayers, despite her mistakes, if they could take her out, then the rest of the Slayers would be easy pickings. She looked around and saw the Wraith soldiers retreat under the onslaught of the vengeance demons and the Slayers. However, the darts were still picking apart her force by teleporting them off the ground… something that Willow was doing everything she could to prevent by shooting down the alien planes. Seeing no other choice, Buffy told Willow get them out of there.

"Move… move… move," ordered Buffy as Willow opened a portal while the vengeance demons who weren't taken in the Darts beams teleported out with some of the surviving Slayers. Buffy and Willow were pushing the last five remaining Slayers through the portal when Willow noticed the Darts gathering and then coming after them. Buffy and Willow looked at each other and then ran through the portal the redhead crated right after the last Slayer had gone through. With the portal closed behind them, Buffy and Willow… as well as the other Slayers found themselves in the midst of a battle; Angel and a team of demons against the on-coming Wraith soldiers around the ruins of a nearly destroyed London.

"Buffy?" asked Angel in surprise as he helped the blonde Slayer stand up… the both of them looking at each other… eventually looking away when Willow coughed, "hey, Willow."

"Hey," said the redhead as she fired an energy blast at a Wraith while some of the other demons attacked the grinning Wraith soldiers.

"The Old Ones?" asked Angel.

"Trap," said Buffy.

"Sorry Buff," said Willow, "I should have seen it. Releasing the Old Ones, most of whom are more powerful than the Senior Partners would mean that they would be put on the lowest rung of the pure demon hierarchy… again. I've already told the teams in New Zealand about this and… and they're pulling back. The Partners wanted to get rid of the Slayers so that eventually their own demons would be able to beat the Wraith, and then enslave humanity."

"So as usual then?" asked Angel as Willow nodded her head before she looked at Buffy again.

"I'm sorry," said Willow as Buffy told her that everyone was fooled, "I've already updated Faith, Kennedy, Vi, Rona, Satsu, and the other senior Slayers on the situation."

"Tell them to continue the fight," said Buffy, "I have a feeling that D'Hofrynn will take care of the Wraith remaining in the Cotswolds."

"Yeah," said Willow as she and the others started to fight the Wraith again.

**Chulak, at that same time.**

It had been a little more than eight hours since the emergency message using the old Alliance frequency was sent out into the galaxy. A frequency that the half ascended Anubis was scanning for so that he would be prepared for the return of the Ancients. However, the message he received from the one known as Hera… a name he recognized in his memory as an ascended being, and the sister of one of the Ascended who forced him halfway down to the lower plains; Athena. However, Anubis wasn't able to remember their faces… not that it bothered him. All he knew was that having Hera out there was dangerous, but the larger threat were the Wraith… a name he recognized as well due to his ascended knowledge. A name he knew was a threat to Goa'uld dominance if they were to expand in the Milky Way.

That was the message that he had given Apophis who was on Chulak; he was Anubis' key ally, the one who helped him defeat Ra. It was a mission of vengeance for Apophis, especially since Ra was the one who murdered his beloved Amounet. So when Ra was defeated, Apophis demanded his vengeance… he wanted Ra's queen while Anubis took Ra himself. Apophis knew that Anubis wanted the former supreme system lord's position, and while he would bide his time for a proper moment to strike back at Anubis, Apophis just wanted to avenge his love.

However, one thing he never counted on was the beauty of Ra's queen. He had heard rumours of the mysterious stranger who had become his queen… a stranger who not one system lord was allowed to lay their eyes on. And upon seeing her for the first time, Apophis realized why; and all thoughts of executing Ra's queen was gone. Instead, she would now be the queen of Apophis.

That was only a day ago.

Now, as Apophis' first prime walked through the hallway of Apophis' mothership with a guard of eight Jaffa towards the newly installed Queen's room, he remembered his orders to escort her to the side of their god.. so that they may together launch the ship that would bring them to glorious battle against the Wraith. Reaching the door, the First Prime pressed a button and the door swished open. He walked in to find attendants putting on a headdress on a woman whose back was to him. He glanced at the woman, who was behind a sheer white curtain as the sarcophagus nest to her was closing.

'She has just woken up from her rest,' thought the First Prime to herself.

He glanced at the woman, something which Apophis had decreed as an insult to him, as the attendants stepped back while the woman waved them away. He then looked forward as the woman turned around and walked past the sheer curtain while telling her attendants to leave them. Once the five woman had scurried out of the large quarters that had a bed on one end, as well as four large windows that looked out into space, the door was shut. It was then that the queen stopped in front of the First Prime.

"What is your name, First Prime," said the queen as she spoke in a gravelly voice.

"Teal'c of Chulak," said the man as he kneeled down. Teal'c had heard rumours about the beauty of the queen, and now that he had seen her… he knew that the rumours were true; the long hair as yellow as a sun, blue eyes that seemed to pierced into a man's soul, and a confidence that belied any other queen that existed among the Goa'uld.

"Rise, Jaffa," said the queen as Teal'c rose up onto his feet.

"Many thanks, Queen Egeria," said the First Prime as he bowed his head.

"Apophis has already informed me himself that Ra has been killed by Anubis," said Egeria as she turned around and walked towards one of the windows while wearing a gold lined, low cut dress with a ribbon device in one hand, and a gold headdress with gold tendrils that fell along the back of her head, "why have you come?"

"Our lord Apophis wished that you accompany him on the bridge," said Teal'c as Egeria turned around and looked at him with her eyes narrowed. Sensing that Egeria was going to ask him why, Teal'c told her about the message from the one known as Hera… a message from her that Anubis had given to Apophis, who in turn had revealed what he was told to his First Prime. Teal'c repeated that same message to Egeria who finally nodded her head before telling him that she'll accompany him.

"Before we leave, Teal'c," said Egeria as she approached the Jaffa, "I have been hearing whispers of a name among many of your Jaffa; what do you know of the Tau'ri."

"A myth," said Teal'c as he gripped his staff weapon tightly, "if you would do me the honour of which Jaffa has been speaking that name, I will…."

"I am your queen from now on, am I correct?" asked Egeria.

"Yes," said Teal'c as he looked forward, occasionally glancing at the blonde..

"And as such, anything we say… anything you say to me, and anything I tell you will be treated as confidential," said Egeria.

"Unless it harms our lord and..."

"He is not my Lord," said Egeria as her jaw locked, "my lord is Ra, not Apophis."

"My queen," said Teal'c as he lowered his head, "I did not mean to insult you. But it is true that as of now, you are Apophis' queen."

"That, I am well aware... even though I do not like it," said Egeria as she stepped back, "do you have a child?"

"Yes," said Teal'c, "Ry'ac, he is due to begin his training under my old mentor, Bra'tac."

"Do you wish for freedom, Jaffa," asked Egeria as Teal'c opened his eyes wide.

"This is talk of treason, my…."

"I have already told you that what you tell me will never be revealed to Apophis, or any of the system lords" said Egeria, "do you wish for the Jaffa to be free off the shackles of the Goa'uld."

Teal'c just looked at Egeria and wondered where she was going with all of this questioning. He wanted to say no despite everything he and Bra'tac would talk about the Goa'uld using their people as slaves… that without the Jaffa, the Goa'uld were nothing.

"Apophis is our god," said Teal'c, "he holds our lives in his hands. He gives us everything we desire and…"

"Except freedom," said Egeria as Teal'c raised an eyebrow and looked at the Queen, "I deal with hypotheticals Teal'c, anything that could be a danger to my lord… I have to imagine how a scenario may play out. So, hypothetically speaking... would you fight for your freedom. Would you fight, and lead a rebellion if there were no consequences for your actions?"

"Yes," said Teal'c, "if there were no consequences."

'Why have I said that?' thought Teal'c to himself as he stepped back from the gaze of Egeria, 'she is using magic on me.'

"You are using magic to make me answer, my Queen," said Teal'c as Egeria smiled.

"No," said Egeria as she took one step forward, "you are an honourable man, who gave your queen an honest answer. It is not wrong to want freedom, but as you say… acting against Apophis would bring down his wrath."

"Yes," said Teal'c.

"Could you leave us be for a moment? I will meet you outside in the hallway," said Egeria as Teal'c bowed his head and turned around before pressing on the button that opened the door to the quarters. As Teal'c was prepared to walked out, Egeria thanked him for escorting her. The man looked over his shoulder, and nodded his head before he took a step outside and closed the door behind him.

Egeria then sighed and walked over to the window and looked out at the stars, with Chulak right below them.

"It is finally time, is it not, Colonel Carter?" said Egeria at her own reflection before she closed her eyes and hung her head. When she opened her eyes again and raised her head the yellow haired woman smiled at her reflection.

"Yeah," she said as she looked over her shoulder at the closed door, "it's time we went to the Tok'ra, time we mobilized. If the Wraith are here over Earth, and if Hera called for aid… than it's likely the Stargate Program was never created in this timeline. Which means that our plans have to be advanced."

_**Egeria** _ _: "Do you trust Teal'c? He is not the same as in your timeline."_

"He's still honourable, I know Teal'c… deep down, he's still the man I know he was… he just needs hope to know that he could be free," whispered Colonel Carter, "I know it…. Either way, we'll find out soon. We have to leave for Vorash."

The Colonel then switched control to Egeria who then nodded her head.

"If we die today, we die free," she said before turning around and heading towards the door. There was a war coming, and she wanted to make sure that it would be the Earth, and the Tok'ra, who make it out of this alive.

TBC.

 


	10. Chapter 10

**Chulak, Apophis' Mothership.**

Egeria walked out of her quarters and stood next to Teal'c as four other Jaffa flanked either side of them; all for the protection of the Queen. Egeria then nodded at the dark-skinned Jaffa before the man walked in front of her, and she a few steps behind him while being surrounded by the Jaffa; some of whom Egeria glanced at and then smiled. It wasn't long before they reached a T-Junction where the left hallway would lead to Apophis' throne room, and the right hallway led to a large room that contained a Stargate.

"Teal'c," said Egeria just as he was about to make the left turn. The First Prime stopped and then turned to face the queen who looked towards the right hallway, and then at Teal'c once again before ordering him to take her to the right hallway. Egeria remembered the schematics of this same ship from the mind of Colonel Carter, it was the same one that Apophis in her timeline had used to try and destroy Earth with his son, Klorel.

So Egeria knew what was to be expected if she took the hallway to her right. She then told Teal'c that she would like to explore the ship, and when Teal'c was about to say something… Egeria told him that she was sure that Apophis would be willing to wait for a few more minutes.

"After all," said Egeria with a smile at Teal'c, "what sense is there in me being a queen if I am not allowed to, at least, see the subjects who are under my control; do you not believe that to be so, Teal'c?"

"Apophis will not be pleased," said Teal'c.

"As I said," replied Egeria nodding her head towards the right side hallway, "he killed my husband, and I believe it is patient for a man to wait for someone as unique as I. Now, do as I say, Teal'c. Do you wish for your lord to be angry that you have insulted me by not ceding to my request?"

"No, my queen," said Teal'c as he bowed his head before ordering the Jaffa to change direction and head to the right hallway. Teal'c walked ahead of Egeria past several patrols of Jaffa who stood to one side and bowed their heads at the new queen. IN the meantime, Egeria was glancing at the four Jaffa on either side of her, with three on each side meeting her eyes and nodding their heads; and then they discretely placed their hands on their zats while continuing to walk. It was a few minutes later that they walked past a door, a door that Egeria stopped and stood while asking Teal'c what was behind it.

"A Chappa'ai, my queen," said Teal'c as he looked back at her, "come… it is time we return to the throne room, and…"

"I wish to see what is beyond this door," said Egeria as she looked at the First Prime, and then at the door. It was when Teal'c looked at Egeria, that he noticed that four of the other Jaffa were putting their hands on their Zats. It was then that he sensed something was wrong as he stepped back and raised his staff weapon at the four Jaffa, and told them that they were traitors for trying to harm the queen; at that accusation, the two Jaffa who were not members of the Tok'ra, two of the ones that were part of the Tok'ra, turned to looked at their companions and raised their staff weapons at the four Jaffa.

"My queen," said Teal'c as he put out his hand, "come with me… these are shol'va for even thinking about…"

"They are not shol'va," said Egeria as she took a step forward and looked at Teal'c, and at the two Jaffa who were standing next to Teal'c, and then at the two Tok'ra who were pointing their weapons at the four Jaffa, "Queen Egeria is not the property of Apophis."

"My Queen," said Teal'c.

"Tell your Lord Apophis," said Egeria as she raised her hand that had the ribbon device, while Teal'c and the other two Jaffa looked on in surprise, "tell him that I am not just a queen, I am the Queen of the Tok'ra."

"No," said Teal'c as he stepped back and was about to fire, as were the other two Jaffa standing next to him, while the two Tok'ra raised their weapons and prepared to fire, when Egeria fired a force blast from the ribbon device. The blast threw back the two Jaffa and Teal'c onto the floor. Once the three of them had fallen, Egeria told two of the Tok'ra who had their weapons pointed at her previously, which were now aimed away from the woman, to grab Teal'c while the other two Tok'ra pressed some buttons and got the door open. Egeria then told the final two Tok'ra who had aimed the weapons at her as a show that they would be zatted. When they were woken up, or found by other Jaffa, they would be taken to Apophis' throne room to tell him who Egeria really was, and with witnesses who were loyal to Apophis present during her escape… the two Tok'ra would be able to convince the false god that they were taken by surprise; and that she had taken Teal'c as a prisoner.

"Tell him I will contact him after he finishes fighting the Wraith. That I would like to re-negotiate the terms of our alliance," said Egeria as the doors opened and two of the Jaffa pulled Teal'c into the room, followed by two of the other Jaffa. The last two who were supposed to remain in the ship stood outside the door and nodded their heads, "once you come to and have told Apophis what I have done, go down to the surface. Find Teal'c's wife and son, and bring them to Torallia; the Tollan colony world that we have negotiated access to for our ship building. The both of them will find shelter, and safety, there until we have done what we need to do. Understood?"

"Yes, your highness," said the two Jaffa as Egeria smiled.

"My children," said Egeria as she looked at the Jaffa, "find Master Bra'tac, inform him of what has happened. We may need his assistance in the coming war."

The two Jaffa nodded their heads before the third and fourth Jaffa raised their Zats and fired a beam of blue light each. They watched the two Tok'ra agents fall to the ground before another Tok'ra Jaffa started to dial the Stargate to a buffer world. Once the Stargate activated, the two Jaffa pulled Teal'c through first... and then the next two Jaffa walked through; finally followed by Egeria.

It was three minutes later, after travelling through four other Stargates as a safety precaution, did Egeria and her four Jaffa who were dragging the still unconscious Teal'c behind them arrived on Vorash. They walked down the pedestal stairs, with Teal'c's feet hitting each stair as he was dragged. It was just then that the man started to groan, and the Jaffa who were carrying him let him go, turned around and watched him fall onto the ground, while the other two Jaffa pulled back Egeria as they took out their Zats and aimed it at Teal'c.

"Do not fire," said Egeria as she took a step forward just as six figures rose up from the surrounding sands of the dessert all around them, and pointed staff weapons at the new comers. The four Jaffa who were with Egeria, raised their weapons at the six strangers in defence of their Queen.

"Halt," said one of the figures as he walked towards Egeria, her Jaffa, and Teal'c who had already opened his eyes and was trying to get up. He was just about to sit up when he found a staff weapon pointed at him, and then looked back over his shoulder and found staff weapons being aimed at Egeria, and the four Jaffa, "Identify yourself."

"Lower your weapons," said Egeria gently to her own Jaffa who were really Tok'ra agents, and they did lower their weapons.. although the Tok'ra heading towards them did not, at least not yet.

"You do not recognize me?" asked Egeria as she looked at the man standing in front of her with a young woman by his side, a woman whose eyes went suddenly wide open before she put her staff down on the ground and kneeled.

"My queen," said the woman as the others all opened their eyes wide in surprise and knelt down, all except the one who was aiming his weapon at Teal'c, who was looking around him and then at the strangers who were kneeling down, and then back up at the man who was aiming the weapon at his chest.

"Please, rise," said the Queen as she rushed to the young woman who knelt down first, and pulled her up gently before asking the others to rise; that they need not kneel to her, "hello, Jolinar."

"My Queen," said Jolinar as she bowed her head in respect. Egeria then looked to her left at the familiar man from Colonel Carter's memories, "greetings, Lantesh."

"My queen," said Lantesh, the Tok'ra symbiote that shared the body of the man known as Martouf, "this is an honour, and a surprise."

"Assemble the Council, Lantesh," said Egeria, "it is time for the Tok'ra to rise… war has come, and we will go out and face it head on."

"Your highness," said the Tok'ra who was aiming his weapon at Teal'c, "he is Apophis' First Prime, he has to be killed or he will bring the wraith of the System Lord upon us and…"

"Put the staff weapon down, Gonal," said Egeria as the man looked back at the woman, "this man, deep down he seeks the very thing that all of us seek; the end of the Goa'uld."

"I am not a Shol'va," said Teal'c calmly as he looked at Egeria with, what the queen and Colonel Carter recognized as, betrayal in his eyes, "I…"

"Leave us," said Egeria as she looked at the other Tok'ra.

"Your highness," said Lantesh, "he may not be able to handle the truth."

"You have my host's memories, her knowledge, as well as my own," said Egeria as she looked at Lantesh, and then at Jolinar, "as do all my children. You know what he is capable of… you know what she has experienced with him, all he needs is hope."

"I do not know what you are referring to," said Teal'c as he looked over his shoulder at Egeria, "I am the First Prime of Apophis… he is a god and…"

"Leave us," said Egeria as she looked at every one of the Tok'ra, "go… assemble the Council."

As the Tok'ra reluctantly left Egeria and Teal'c all alone, and walked towards a set of transportation rings in the distance; Egeria asked Teal'c to stand up.. that he wouldn't be harmed.

"If this is a trick to bring Apophis to the base of the Tok'ra, and…" said Teal'c as he looked at Egeria who closed her eyes and then hung her head. When she raised her head again, Teal'c noticed something very different in the woman's facial expression.

"Teal'c," said the woman in a softer, less harsh voice; it was something that surprised the First Prime. He had heard rumours and whispers about the Tok'ra, an offshoot of the Goa'uld who share the host's body; but he never thought that they really existed, not until right at this moment. He saw the woman put her hands by her side as she took a step forward, and then stopped, "I know this is going to be hard to believe. My name is Lt. Colonel Samantha Carter, and I'm from an alternate timeline."

"I do not understand…" said Teal'c as he narrowed his eyes at the woman while thinking to himself, 'alternate timeline?'

"How it happened doesn't matter," said the Colonel, "what matters is that I know you. We worked together in something called the Stargate Program in my timeline. The first time we met was on Chulak… we were taken prisoner and you were one of the Jaffa who were going to execute me and my team, SG-1. But my commanding officer, Jack… Jack O'Neill told you that we could help you… he gave you faith that we could help you free the Jaffa and…"

"The gods control the Jaffa and…"

"They are not gods," said Colonel Carter, "you know that… you once told me that you had doubts about who the Goa'uld really were, and for a while you believed that they were gods, but Bra'tac sent your head straight during a sparring session in the snow on Chulak. You told me that it was on a hill, and Bra'tac beat you every time. He told you to imagine the pain that others were going through… told you to imagine what you were going through every time you fired on innocents. You told him that you were angry, that you hated the Goa'uld but you didn't see any other choice but to follow them."

"How did you know?" asked Teal'c as he looked at the woman facing him in surprise, "I have not spoken of that moment to anyone.. not even my wife."

"Because I know you… I've known you for eight years," said the Colonel, "we fought together, we bled together. We helped you and the Jaffa earn their freedom. We saved the galaxy so many times, Teal'c."

"That is not possible," said Teal'c as he stepped back.

"The Tau'ri exist, Teal'c," said the Colonel, "a world from which the humans were taken.. humans who eventually were made into slaves, and the Jaffa. That planet is Earth; Ra went to Earth to kidnap human beings, the same humans who rose up against him five thousand years ago. Every human in the galaxy is descended from those early souls. Teal'c, I am one of the Tau'ri."

"The... the Tau'ri are a myth," said Teal'c.

"That's the lie that the System Lords have spread," said the Colonel, "now Earth… my home… your ancestral home is under attack by the Wraith. And once the Wraith are gone, the Goa'uld will raze it to the ground so that the Jaffa never know the truth. In my timeline, the Jaffa had many losses losses during their rebellion, and it wasn't easy. But you won freedom after many sacrifices, the Tau'ri played a role… but the Jaffa, under yours and Bra'tac's leadership were the ones who fought and died for freedom, Teal'c. Rya'ac got married and became a leader in the free Jaffa. But we… me and my friends… all of us changed things. Something happened in this timeline that even I'm not sure. With my knowledge, the Tok'ra's primary mission has been to sabotage the Goa'uld, to steal technology designs from Anubis, and to eventually help free the Jaffa. In my timeline, we even broke the Jaffa's dependence on symbiotes using a chemical known as tretonin. I know that everything I'm telling you sounds impossible… I know it's going to be hard to believe. But if you're the same man that I've had fight by my side for eight years, I know that deep down in your heart… you know I'm telling the truth. Please, Teal'c… when Ra revived me, he wanted to know everything. And he nearly did, but I fought thanks to a dear friend who taught me certain tricks that can protect the mind. Even when he told me that all of my friends were killed after he revived me on Abydos; my friends… Jack, Daniel, Tara, Willow, Buffy, and Teal'c of Chulak, I never revealed anything to him. All he told me was that they were all dead. I'm the only one who knows the truth about Earth… about you. I know the man you are meant to become, I have seen that man, and I want the Jaffa to be free. I want us all to survive, Teal'c. Help me fight, be the man I know you really are.. the honourable man, the protector."

"You are really one of the Tau'ri?" asked Teal'c, "everything you are saying is the truth?"

"I know you have this uncanny ability to know if any of us were lying," smiled the Colonel, "do you think I'm lying?"

"No," said Teal'c as he stood still and looked at Colonel Carter.

"You and Jack were blood brothers," said the Colonel as she wiped her eyes while she thought about her own Teal'c and General O'Neill, "as were you and Daniel. You were close with Tara… even trained her personally in hand to hand combat. The Teal'c I knew loved sparring with Buffy, and having sparring sessions with Willow. But now, the versions I knew are gone… I don't know if their versions in this timeline exists. But here you are, the catalyst for the Jaffa rebellion. I can help you, Teal'c… I need for you to trust me. Trust the Tok'ra. Please."

"Very well, my queen," said Teal'c.

"You always called me Colonel Carter," she said with a smile, "I think once you just called me Samantha."

"If that is what you wish, Colonel Carter," said Teal'c as the Colonel nodded her head before she handed control to Egeria.

"She is correct, Teal'c," said Egeria in her gravelly voice, "the Jaffa have earned their freedom in Samantha's timeline. And we will fight to ensure that something similar happens here; but given that the Tau'ri are key… we must help save Earth. And then… then we will fight back. I have notified my Tok'ra operatives to secure your wife and son, as well as notify Bra'tac of what is happening."

"Thank you," said Teal'c as Egeria nodded her head.

"Now come, Teal'c," said Egeria as the both of them headed away from the Stargate, "we were going to bide our time in rising up against the System Lords; but with Earth in danger, intervention is required soon, rather than later. We must meet the Council, and then we will launch our ships."

"Ships?" asked Teal'c as he walked alongside Egeria towards the ring transporters.

"Samantha is, by all accounts in her memories, one of the more brilliant Tau'ri scientists, and a fine officer in the military," said Egeria, "her memories and knowledge on all things from ship designs, weapon specifications, to her military training and combat experiences, to her scientific knowledge, and memories have been spread through my children once I entered her body and created new symbiotes. In her timeline, I am dead… which is why I have changed the way I have done my work. Using her experiences, and knowledge of a possible future, and combined with my own knowledge… we have enabled my children to sabotage Goa'uld ships and production facilities, stolen advanced shield and weapons designs from Anubis without him knowing about it. For the past few centuries we have been secretly building a force on worlds that were allied to the Tau'ri in her timeline. While I was not able to directly instruct my children, they had known enough to build alliances in secret. We have built production facilities underground on various planets, and we have been building weapons and ships; all underground. We have built training facilities for Tok'ra to crew those ships using Samantha's training… some of those training which includes techniques in hand to hand combat that you have taught her."

"This is… interesting," said Teal'c as they neared the transportation rings, "how do you know that I will not kill you, my queen?"

"MY personal shield is lowered, Teal'c," said Egeria with a smirk, "if you wanted to kill me, you had every chance."

"Indeed," said Teal'c as he and Egeria stepped into the ring platform and faced each other.

"The trust that Colonel Carter has for you goes deep," said Egeria, "when I took over her body, I was privy to her memories… her knowledge. It is vast.. of course nothing compared to the genetic knowledge of the Tok'ra, but it is amazing still; technologies of the Ancients, the Goa'uld… it is simply amazing that she was able to experiment with all of that technology; the Tau'ri would have become a superpower within the Galaxy. She was even host to one of my children in her timeline… Jolinar of Malkshur. Her father was saved by another child of mine, Selmak. I have seen your heroism, Teal'c… I can see it in my mind. I believe she is correct; you are every bit the man she believes you to be. But if you wish to kill me, then I leave myself open to you… if you do not believe her… than this is your chance; whether now, or in battle… I choose to die free."

"I wish to fight," said Teal'c as he stood up straight while Egeria smiled, and the Colonel mentally told Egeria 'I told you so'.

"I believe that now, as Colonel Carter's Earth expression goes, it is time for us to kick some major ass," said Egeria as she pressed a button on her ribbon device.

Teal'c just looked at Egeria with an eyebrow raised, and the Tok'ra queen sighed as the rings came up and covered them.

"Don't tell anyone I said that," said Egeria as Teal'c nodded his head before they were awash in a white light.

**Atlantis Pegasus, Galaxy, four hours later.**

With the majority of the humans taking a break by exploring the city, it was only Spike, Daniel and Tara left in the control room; the vampire occasionally looking at Tara who was helping Daniel search the Atlantis database for the information on the Anti-Replicator weapon. So far, they had managed to narrow the search to weapons that emitted energy waves after Daniel described the effect as much he could to Thor, who he had been communicating with over the sub-space channels.

"Spike," said Tara as she glanced at the vampire who was leaning against the railing that looked out down to the Gateroom while facing the two of them, "you all right?"

"First I was caught up on something the nibblet said," replied Spike who, for the past four hours had been standing looking out at the ocean while standing under the Lantean sun before he walked in to find that Daniel and Tara had insisted that the others got some rest a couple of hours ago, that they needed to be refreshed for the coming war.

"Which is?" asked Tara as Daniel moved to another console.

"Dawn said something," said Spike shaking his head, "something she whispered about Willow loving Xander…. She said that her sister loved Xander, and I was gonna ask about that but then you lot came through and… and I've a lot of things over my years but this really tops them all."

"More than seeing Atlantis?" asked Daniel as he walked back to the Console where he and Tara were working.

"More than knowing the truth about the Ancients? About the Alterra?" asked Tara, "I mean we guessed that Dawn told you about them."

"Yea" said Spike as he looked at Tara, "but seeing you again… Red's gonna be so… happy."

"I know and…." said Tara when Daniel raised his hands up into the air and shouted.

"Eureka!" said Daniel as Tara turned and looked at the screen, and saw a very familiar sight; the anti-replicator weapon. Daniel then reached for a button and contacted Thor while pointing at Tara, and signalling her to send the information to him, "Thor, we're sending you a data burst. Can you build it, and then beam me to your ship? I know how to use it, and I recommend that you create a replicator bug behind a force field so that you'll be able to see it working."

"Understood, Dr. Jackson," said Thor, "we have received the data, prepare for beam out."

"See you soon, Tara," said Daniel as he waved at the blonde witch before being transported out to the Belisknir. Now, Tara and Spike were alone in Stargate Operations, with the vampire saying that the flash of light was another thing that he thought would never exist.

"And everything that used to be in our wildest dreams exist," said Spike as Tara walked over to him, and then leaned back against the railing.

"What's she like?" asked Tara as she looked at Spike, "your Willow, I mean."

"I know she loved you," said Spike as Tara nodded her head, "after you died, she went… went off the rails."

"What did she do?" asked Tara.

"She found the one who shot you," said Spike, "and killed him. From what I know, it was pretty gruesome… the guy was flayed alive. Then she tried to kill the other two that were friends with that one bloke. But they weren't involved, so Buffy and the others were protecting them. Then Red, who absorbed all this dark mojo, fought Buffy. Could have actually killed her if Rupert didn't come to the rescue. He had the powers of the Devon coven, and Willow wanted more.."

"Like a drug," said Tara softly.

"Yea," said Spike as he rubbed the back of his head, "the Coven knew that's what she would do.. so they put pure magic into Giles, and Red took that power away from him. She was about to destroy the world and… and Xander was the one who calmed her down. Gotta give props to the guy… don't tell him I told you that."

"I won't," said Tara with a smile, "I understand why Willow did what she did; grief is something powerful."

"You know all about it," said Spike as Tara nodded her head.

"Daniel and I lost everything," said Tara softly, "our friends, our lives… I love my wife. So after we found out that the wife of one of the council members was the cause of her death…. I lashed out. I killed her… part of me regrets what I did. But the other part doesn't; and every Jaffa, or collaborator I killed with Daniel and the other rebels; all of that was in vengeance for what happened to Willow, what happened to our friends. It's easy to say that you won't do something like kill, until you're actually faced with a situation you never expected. So I know what your Willow's been through, and why she did what she did."

"Yeah," said Spike as a light flashed and Daniel appeared with a huge grin on his face.

"It worked," said Daniel nodding his head as he walked over to one of the console and pressed down one of the buttons while Tara and Spike walked over to him, "the test replicator's destroyed. Thor's sending a data burst to the Asgard High Council."

"So the little guys are gonna survive?" asked Spike.

"Yeah," said Daniel as he looked at Spike when there was a beeping sound from behind him on the screen. Tara looked at the screen, and then smiled. Turning to Spike, while Daniel called for Dawn and the others, Tara told the vampire that the engines were already warmed up and they were ready to go.

It was thirty minutes later that Dawn and the others were in the chair room, while only Daniel remained in Stargate Operations. Dawn had asked the man to make sure that the shields, and everything else they needed to head out into space was in working order. As the brunette looked at the chair, something she had never sat on, she was suddenly nervous before she looked at the faces of Xander and the others who wanted to see the technology at work.

Dawn then set her eyes on Tara who smiled at her before walking towards the brunette and putting her hand on her shoulder.

"It's good to be a little nervous," said Tara as Dawn grabbed Tara's hand and held it tight.

"I never used it before," said Dawn softly as she looked back at the chair, and then back at Tara.

"Neither did Willow," said Tara as she looked at Dawn, "she took the entire repository of the Ancients into her mind, and then sat on the chair in the Antarctic Outpost… and destroyed Anubis' entire fleet. All she did to save the world was remaining calm… that's all you need to do, Dawnie. Remain calm, just accept that feeling after you sit on the chair. Willow was Earth's guardian when she sat there… now when you sit on that chair, you're Atlantis' guardian; she'll listen to you. Tell Allantis to launch, she'll launch for home."

"We need to get more ZPM's," said Dawn softly.

"Then we get the ZPM's," said Tara nodding her head.

Dawn held onto Tara's hand as the blonde witch led the brunette to the chair. Dawn then breathed in before turning around and then sat on the Control Chair; and the pedestal lit up blue.

"Sweet," said Xander.

"Fascinating," said Giles as a lit shone from above down to Dawn.

She then leaned back as the chair got into position before slowly moving thirty degrees while Tara gently asked Dawn to imagine the Pegasus galaxy. Giles and the others looked up as a three dimensional model of the galaxy appeared, and then the image focused on the Lantean star system. Tara then told Dawn to think about the ZPM facilities in the Milky Way, and then to plot a course to any particular planet. Tara looked up as the Milky Way appeared and several planets with the galaxy lit up with their gate addresses above them. Giles and the others could only look on as a line extended on the three dimensional galaxy's just as Tara said, "oh my goddess."

"Tara?" asked Oz when he saw her looked at one particular light. Oz walked over to her while Dawn raised her head and looked at the blonde who shook her head. The group saw Tara then head to a console on her left and press a few buttons, all the while checking on the Stargate address that had gotten her worked up.

"Tara, what's going on?" asked Dawn, "you're making me nervous."

"Daniel," said Tara as she looked at the address again after she asked Dawn to hold off asking questions for a second, "Daniel, listen to me… one planet that has a production facility is one we know… one we've been to."

"Which one?" asked Daniel surprised while he was sitting alone in Stargate Operations.

"Edina," said Tara as Daniel's eyes opened wide.

"Are you sure?" asked Daniel.

"Yeah," said Tara as Dawn and the others looked at each other, and then at Tara, "do you think that…. Do you think that…"

"I'd say we need to check it out," said Daniel, "if there's a production facility there, then I'd like to know why our scanners weren't able to detect them. And at the same time we can confirm whether or not… you know."

"Got it," said Tara as she kept the line open, and then looked at Dawn before walking under the models of the two galaxies and pointing at the Stargate address for Edina, "Dawnie, I need you to plot a course to this planet."

"What's so special about that world?" asked Giles.

"Trust me," said Tara as she looked at Giles, and then at Dawn and the others, "Daniel and I… we don't wanna be wrong. Just trust me... please. Once we get there and we've replenished the drones and ZPM's, me and Daniel will do a quick exploration of something… something important."

"But…" said Dawn as Tara interrupted her.

"Please," said Tara as Dawn nodded her head before looking up at the two models as a line stretched from Lantea, to Edina. It was then that Daniel, and Thor's faces appeared side by side on a three dimension HUD.

"Dr. Jackson," said Dawn, "we ready?"

"Engines are green, shields have been activated, inertial dampeners are at full… we're ready to go," said Daniel.

"Commander Thor," said Dawn as she looked at the alien, "please prepare for departure."

"We are ready, Hera," said Thor as Dawn nodded her head, her mind flying with questions on why Tara and Daniel were insisting on landing on this particular planet out of all others. Shaking her head, and taking a deep breath… Dawn pushed her questions to the back of her mind and closed her eyes.

"You can do it, Dawn," said Xander.

"Stay calm Dawnie," said Tara, "you're the city; now fly."

"Firing up the Stardrive," said Dawn as the city started to shake. Daniel was looking out of the main balcony after making sure that all systems were green, and saw the orange shimmer of the shield as it covered the city. He then felt a shake as the city started to rise out of the ocean. The man felt the city rising, followed by another light jolt, as the Stardrive propelled the city out of the atmosphere and into space.

"I wish you could have seen this, Jack," said Daniel as the city-ship known as Atlantis entered a hyperspace tunnel, "Willow, Buffy, Teal'c, Sam… I wish all of you could see this."

**Vorash, Tok'ra homeworld, at that same time.**

It had taken hours for the ships that Egeria had asked for to be ready with their crews; all well trained thanks to the genetic memory that they shared. Egeria had talked to the Council with Teal'c by her side and ordered that the agents on Apophis', and Anubis' fleets be activated. One of the Council members also suggested that they increase their sabotaging of Goa'uld production facilities… something that Egeria had agreed with by saying that they were to make sure that the attack appeared as if they were from rival Goa'uld system lords.

"I would have waited longer," said Egeria, "but with the Tau'ri in danger…. We must act now. Our first target must be Ba'al, he has the potential to be a great danger. Have a team in Dakara destroy the Ancient controls to the Dakara Superweapon. When Anubis discovers what is happening, he will most likely attempt to use the weapon to destroy all life in this galaxy.

"It will be done," said Gershaw, one of the council members.

"What do we know about the Kull warriors?" asked Egeria.

"As the Jaffa has not yet risen up against the Goa'uld," said one of the Councillors, "our agents say that Anubis has not seen it fit to crate these Kull Warrior, my queen."

"Good," said Egeria, "Colonel Carter and the SGC had a nightmare of a time dealing with them. Our alliances with the Kelownans? Do we have enough naquadria?"

"Our alliance with the Kelownans, and their alliance with their neighbouring nations are going as well as can be expected from those obstinate people," said one of the Councillors, "and our alliance with the Tollan has improved significantly, especially since the Tok'ra have passed on information in regards to Anubis' upgrades on his shields using the knowledge of the Ancients."

"Our agents have indicated that he will rule the Goa'uld within the next two years," said Selmak as Egeria looked at the symbiote's female host, "and then he will go after the Tollan."

"Things have been changing since Colonel Carter became my host," said Egeria as she looked at the Council, "this is our greatest chance to overturn the Goa'uld, and not only free us of their tyranny."

Egeria then looked at Teal'c who remained standing straight by her side.

"But to also free the Jaffa so that they can carve out their own future," said Egeria as Teal'c looked at her, and bowed his head. When he lifted his head, Egeria continued to speak, "it will be hard, Teal'c. That is one thing I can promise you. Once the Tau'ri are freed, the Tok'ra will offer them an alliance; a chance to work in concert as we free the rest of the Jaffa."

Teal'c nodded his head before she looked at the Council again.

"Have we made contact with the Pangarans?" asked Egeria as a few of the Council nodded their heads before saying that the Pangarans, who were surprised that they were being asked to help develop a drug that would extend life by an advanced society of aliens, were keen to begin working with the Tok'ra.

"And the Orban?"

"They know about the Tok'ra," said Gershaw, "I have personally met with their people, and they have agreed to trade technology in secret.. out of the eyes of the Goa'uld; as have the other advanced races. We only have not been able to contact the Asgard."

"From today," said Egeria nodding her head, "things will change. We will launch our ships based on the designs we have gained from Colonel Carter, we have spent all this time not only sabotaging the Goa'uld when we can; we have also experimented with, and advanced our technology. That is what my children have whispered into my ears when I was with Ra on Abydos, and what I have heard only yesterday when I was with Apophis."

"We have found that device on the planet known as Kheb," said Lantesh as Jolinar approached Egeria and handed her a brown blanket that was covering a cylindrical object. Egeria took the blanket in her hands, and looked at it while Jolinar said that they retrieved that only sixty years ago so that it would be with the Tok'ra for safekeeping. Lantesh said that the Tok'ra were approached by a blonde woman in white, demanding to know why they were there.

"We asked her to read our minds," said Lantesh, "then she realized our goal; that we wanted to keep the device safe."

"Oma," said Egeria as Lantesh nodded his head. Egeria then turned to Gerhsaw, and asked her to select people she trusted to crew the fourteen ships that they would be taking to Earth. Gershaw nodded her head before she said that she would, and in the meantime.. she would select the crew for the other twelves ships that they were holding on four different planets; all out of the eyes of the Goa'uld, as a backup, but they would not launch without orders from the queen.

It was an hour later that Egeria was walking through the familiar, but still alien, hallways of a ship. She walked past several Tok'ra as they stopped and bowed their heads at her.

She had asked her children not to do that, but they didn't listen. She was still their queen.

It was a few minutes later that Egeria reached the bridge with Teal'c by her side. She looked at the familiar configuration of the command chair in the center, with two consoles on either side, and a console in the rear. Egeria closed her eyes and returned control to Colonel Carter. The Colonel looked around the bridge as her mind flowed with memories of her taking a tour of the first 304, the Daedalus; with the first X-305, designed by Willow, being built later that year and then launched six months later.

Now, those days were never going to happen.

"It looks the same, Teal'c," said the Colonel as she brushed her hands over the back of the control chair, "I can see them, you know."

"Who do you see, Colonel Carter?" asked Teal'c.

"Everyone," said the Colonel as her surroundings melted away, and she found herself back on Area 51 a day before they were due to leave for Ancient Egypt in the time machine. The entire SG-1 was there on the bridge as Colonel Paul Emerson took command of the ship, and then took it out of the underground docks. The Colonel remembered the ship flying through the sky and then entering space with everyone around her cheering at the successful launch of the Daedalus. As all of her memories faded back, the Colonel found herself looking at the Tok'ra crew taking their places; all of them looking at her for the order to launch. With Teal'c standing next to her as she headed for the rear console, she pressed a few buttons as a holographic HUD popped up from the console which showed all of the Stargate symbols.

"Prepare to launch," said the Colonel as the Tok'ra moved on those orders, "inform the other ships to begin their system checks, we leave in ten minutes."

"Colonel Carter," said Teal'c, "what will you have me do?"

"This console is not only for communication," said Colonel Carter, "but it's for weaponry as well. And we have naquada enhanced missiles, nuclear weapons thanks to the Kelownans enhanced with a material known as Naquadria, Naquadria powered Ancient beam weapons thanks to Egeria's knowledge on far more advanced designs… and a bit of the stuff we stole from Anubis. How'd you like to stick it to Apophis if we meet him out there? We intend to steal as many ships as possible, while you lead the rebels along with the Tau'ri, and the Tok'ra, against the System lords."

Teal'c bowed his head slightly while the Colonel then dialled the Stargate that was on the surface using a remote that she had designed. Or at least the designs of the remote that were passed down to the Tok'ra through the genetic memory. Once she pressed the last symbol, all the pressed symbols on the HUD turned green; with a green word in Goa'uld blinking, stating that there was a connection. The Colonel then closed her eyes and returned control to Egeria, it was time to connect to the President as she input a code; a code which she hoped was active in this timeline. However, she stopped pressing buttons when she noticed some strange readings on the HUD.

"It cannot be," said Egeria as Teal'c looked at the woman, and then at the screen once again, "I should be reading frequencies from Earth but… but these readings are all… no."

"My Queen," said Teal'c as he watched Egeria close her eyes and shake her head in disbelief, "what has happened?"

"Willow," said Colonel Carter as Egeria returned control to her while she was looking at the screen, "she said that when the Wraith attack a planet, they prevent anyone from escaping from by dialing in, and establishing a wormhole. No one can escape… and these reading are alien. They're not Goa'uld, not Asgard, not Ancients, nor is it any Earth languages… these signals are, I think, from the Wraith ship. There's a Stargate on the Wraith ship."

"If I may," said Teal'c as Colonel Carter handed control to Egeria and moved to one side while Teal'c stood in front of the HUD, "I suggest we gather our forces here, out of the limits of the sensor ranges of any Goa'uld ships. I am uncertain of the range that the Wraith have on their vessels, therefore we should gather at a point that we would have to assume the Wraith will not be able to scan us."

"A hundred light years," said Egeria nodding her head as Teal'c pressed some buttons, "give or take."

"Does this vessel contain a Tel'tak?" asked Teal'c as he looked at Egeria, who nodded her head.

"Our plan was to send a cloaked ship and take stock of the situation," said Egeria, "an intelligence gathering mission that would then return, and we would be able to plan our next strike."

Teal' nodded his head as Egeria asked the man to also come up with contingency plans for the inevitable arrival of Anubis', and Apophis', fleets. IT was then that one of the Tok'ra looked back and said that the ship was ready.

"Open the bay doors," said Egeria as she took her seat on the command chair after nodding at Teal'c. She sat down on the command chair and then pressed a button that opened communications with all ships, "this is Queen Egeria, I am ordering all ships be launched."

"My Queen," said the Tok'ra to her left, "the Rosen, the Tara, the Daniel Jackson, and the… well, the Murray; as well as our other ships have launched."

"Launch the O'Neill," said Egeria as she looked out the front window, "set hyperspace coordinates for a hundred and ten light years away from Earth. Launch."

Egeria felt the thrusters on the O'Neil fire as the ship flew out of the docking bay under the sands of Vorash. She saw the ship pass through the clouds of the planet when she noticed movement to her left. Egeria looked at that direction and smiled at the visions of her hosts' friends who died about five thousand years ago.

"Good luck, Carter," said General O'Neill as he saluted Egeria, "take care of her, Egeria. See you soon."

"Sam," said Daniel, "good luck."

"See you on the other side, ma'am" said Willow and Buffy together as they saluted the woman.

"We'll keep the light on for you, Sam," said Tara with a small smile, "but we want you to live."

"Indeed, Colonel Carter," said Teal'c, the one with hair who had accompanied them to the past, "as Spock would say, live long, and prosper."

"You just make a Star Trek reference?" asked the General as Egeria smiled at them.

"We are figments of her imagination after all," said Daniel shrugging his shoulders, "and she did spend a lot of time watching Star Trek and Star Wars."

"Hey, Carter," said the General, "after you're done with this? May I suggest the Death Star."

Egeria smiled as her visions faded away, the last of whom was General O'Neill who looked at her with his hands in his pockets.

"We love you," said Egeria softly as the General smiled and vanished; Egeria then looked out the window as a hyperspace tunnel opened, "we will see you soon, if we die today."

The ships, led by the O'Neill, then flew into the hyperspace windows for their nearly ten-hour journey to their destination.

TBC.

 


	11. Chapter 11

**Stargate Operations, Atlantis, four hours into journey to the Milky Way.**

Daniel and Giles were standing on the main balcony looking out into the hyperspace tunnel; the older man telling the boy about the project that he and the Giles in his timeline were preparing to undertake; a history of Earth using what they knew so far from the arrival of the Alterra, to the evolution of man on Earth, to the kidnapping of the early humans by Ra, and then so on and so forth. In the meantime, Tara, Dawn and Bay were in the control room while Oz, Xander, and Spike were exploring the city for the past few hours while some of the Asgard were working through the research that was gathered in Atlantis' labs. It wasn't too long before Spike, Oz, Kelden, and Xander returned.. the toddler excited to see his mother again as Bay ran to her husband, and was handed the child.

"The city's huge," said Oz as Spike looked at Dawn who nodded her head; the vampire still couldn't get what Dawn had whispered out of his head. He suspected what she meant in that Willow was Athena just because of what she said, but he wanted to confirm that theory without anyone there, and he needed to know how it could be true. He approached the brunette when there was a sudden jolt that had everyone hold onto a console for their safety; so that they don't fall over.

It was then that Daniel and Giles rushed into the Control room from the balcony saying that they had exited hyperspace. There was a flash of light on Dawn's left side as Thor appeared in his command chair saying that the city-ship had suddenly gone out of hyperspace, and asking if the Asgard could be of any help.

"We've got no idea why we're out of hyperspace in the first place," said Dawn as she pressed some buttons on the console while asking Daniel and Tara to run diagnostics. While the others were working, Xander noticed a red dot blinking on the screen, and he called out for Dawn who turned around and looked at where he was pointing on the screen.

"No way," said Dawn as Tara and Daniel told her that all systems seemed to be all right, that there wasn't any reason that they should have exited Hyperspace. Dawn looked at Daniel and nodded her head before she motioned towards the screen. Daniel and Tara then rushed to the screen and looked in surprise at the red dot while Dawn continued to talk while pointing at the symbols near the red dot, "it's a ship… a Lantean warship that's… hold on… that's not right."

"What?" asked Bay while she looked at Dawn, "are you certain?"

"I thought all Lanteans returned to Earth?" asked Giles and Daniel together.

"From Atlantis? yes," said Dawn as she looked at Giles and then at Daniel, before looking at the screen again, "but it's possible that there were ships that could have headed to Earth on their own after the order to evacuate was given."

"But that ship's not in hyperspace," said Tara as she read some of the Lantean symbols on the screen "they're running at just below the speed of light."

"Perhaps their hyperdrive was damaged in the war," said Thor as he looked at the screen, "in either case, travelling to Earth at that speed would take millions of years."

"They'd be dead," said Xander.

"Relativity," said Tara, "I've listened to Sam and Willow enough times to know that the crew will think that only a few years have passed for them since they left Atlantis."

"Indeed," said Thor before he looked at Hera, "you should know Hera, that the ship will pass Atlantis in one hour."

"We can't spare the time," said Dawn shaking her head, "we…"

"It would be better to have more ships with us, Dawn," said Giles, "like I said, we're all worried about Buffy and the others… and Thor has told us that they're already fighting back against the replicators and that would take time; and then they would have to gather the resources to help protect the Earth.. so that would take a bit more time. For now, we need ships, you know this."

"He is correct, Hera," said Thor as Dawn looked at him, and then at Daniel and Tara who were looking at the screen.

"Dr. Jackson?" asked Dawn.

"We need allies," said Daniel, "if this ship really is Lantean, and they're heading to Earth, then their goals and ours match up."

"We have Thor's ship, Atlantis, and this Lantean ship," said Tara, "once we've gotten the ZPM's and the drones replenished from Edina, then we should have enough combined with the outposts on Earth which we could remotely control to beat back the Wraith fleet. We need them Dawnie, and they're your people. As a Lantean, as an Ancient, you're not alone anymore."

"Indeed, Hera," said Thor.

"You've got us," said Bay as Dawn turned to look at the woman, "and now you've also found out that more of your own people exist. I say we pick them up, and then we go."

Dawn nodded her head before she turned and pressed a few buttons, and then turned to the screen again.

And took a deep breath before she spoke.

"This is High Councillor Hera Ren of the Lantean city-ship Atlantis, calling the unidentified Lantean vessel," said Dawn as she looked at the screen, "please respond."

It was a few seconds later that the screen changed to show an image of a surprised blonde haired woman, with several people behind her manning consoles.

"This… this is Captain Helia of the Lantean warship, Tria," she replied as Dawn smiled, "High Councillor Hera… how? I… I heard you died in the war."

"I ascended," said Dawn, "and then I descended to this plain of existence several years ago, Captain. it's a long story… but I am Hera, my father is Moros… Melina was my mother, and Athena my sister. Right now, the city is occupied by myself… and a few friends from Earth."

"You have returned to Atlantis from Earth?" asked Helia as she shook her head, confusion etched on her face before she looked to her left and gave the order to head to Atlantis.

"Somehow the Wraith have come to Earth orbit," said Dawn as Helia's eyes went wide in shock, as did many of her crew, "there's twenty-one Potentia powered ships."

"How is that possible?" asked Helia stunned.

"I'm not sure," said Dawn, "I received my memories back after an… incident, and I called on the Asgard to help."

"The Asgard," said Helia as Dawn nodded her head while she stepped to one side as Thor in his command chair came into the picture, "this is Thor, Supreme Commander of the Asgard fleet. He asked for our help in searching for a cure to a disease, and a weapon to battle replicators in his own galaxy."

"There are replicators?" asked Helia.

"They are being defeated as we speak, Captain," said Thor as Helia showed visible relief, but they could still see that she was worried about news on the Wraith.

"Captain," said Dawn, "we're headed to a planet to replenish our weapons, and Potentia. We could use your help."

"Of course, High Councillor," said Helia.

"Land when you are ready on the southern pier," said Dawn as Helia nodded, "we'll talk more when you're here."

"Understood," said Helia as the screen turned off, and Dawn turned around and released the breath she was holding.

"Amazing," said Giles, "but why did we stop here and now? Dr. Jackson and Tara said that that there is nothing wrong with the engines and…"

Dawn suddenly smelled the scent of strawberries in the air, and then felt a small gust of wind around her cheeks; it felt as if fingers tenderly brushed against her cheeks, followed by a pair of lips kissing her on her left cheek. It was a feeling that gave Dawn a small smile.

"Mother," said Dawn as she looked around.

"Melina was here?" asked Daniel as Dawn looked at him. The man told her that they had met Melina before, and then asked if she was the one who stopped the City.

"I think so," said Dawn before he looked at Xander who asked how it was possible if the higher beings couldn't interfere.

"I did my own small interferences here and there," said Daniel while Tara smiled knowingly as everyone, including Dawn, looked at Daniel in stunned silence, "some stuff here… some stuff there. Not enough to change the evolution of the lower beings or anything but.. I was pulled away when I tried to use my powers to destroy Anubis."

"You… you were ascended?" asked Dawn who then looked in surprise as Tara nodded her head, "how's that possible?"

"He was poisoned by radiation," said Tara as Dawn and the others looked between the two people from another timeline, "he was dying and… and Oma offered him ascension. I was there the day he ascended, so was Willow and Buffy."

"My word," said Giles as he looked at Daniel, "so why did you come back?"

Daniel told him that Anubis had collected a set of keys to power a very powerful weapon, and the last key he needed was called the Eye of Ra on Abydos. He said that he promised Anubis the Eye of Ra in exchange for letting SG-1 go back home… and sparing Abydos. He looked away in embarrassment when he said that he convinced Colonel O'Neill to give up the Eye but Anubis betrayed their deal. He said that after Anubis had destroyed the twenty Goa'uld shops that gathered to destroy him… he then turned the weapon to Abydos.

"I gathered my power to destroy him," said Daniel, "but Oma pulled me away, and then sealed my ascended knowledge in a part of my mind, and sent me down to Vis Uban; the last City of the Ancients."

"And Abydos?" asked Oz.

"I was there in the Gateroom when Jack and the others came through," said Tara, "a massive energy surge hit the Iris and… and a few hours later we went back. The planet was destroyed…. The pyramid was gone, the village was gone. But Oma ascended the Abydonians to spare them from dying."

"So I know that ascended beings can make small changes here and there," said Daniel as he looked at Dawn, "so I'm guessing that it was either Oma, or Melina. And since you're grinning… it's probably Melina."

"Yea," said Dawn nodding her head.

It would be an hour later that the Tria would land on the pier that was assigned to her before Atlantis went back into hyperspace.

**Edina, four hours later, 1800 hours.**

A hyperspace tear opened over the planet of Edina, and Atlantis shot out as she headed towards the planet below. It was agreed a few hours before the city was due to exit the hyperspace tunnel, that the Belisknir and the Tria would release their clamps from the docks and fly through Edina's atmosphere on their own power. The ships would then dock once again when the city has landed and begun the process of activating the underground, and heavily shielded, facilities so that the ZPM's could be tested for viability, and if the devices had run out of power… then new ones could be created. And then they had to beam the drones into the bays in Atlantis, and on the Tria where the Asgard were helping repair the hyperdrive and the shield generators on the Lantean vessel…. All of which had been finished by the time the city had shot out over Edina.

"You think she's here?" whispered Tara to Daniel as the two members of SG-1 stood at the main balcony.

"Maybe," said Daniel as he looked at the planet below.

"Dr. Jackson," said Giles as he motioned at the archaeologist and Tara to come into Stargate Operations where all the controls were now manned by the Lanteans while Dawn was standing with Helia looking at the screen while the other Scoobies, except for Xander and Oz who were helping some of the Lanteans check how many arms remained in the armoury.

Helia had already been briefed about everything she needed to know about Earth an hour after the Tria had docked on the Southern Pier. She found out who Giles was since the woman was wondering why a child was attending the briefing in the first place, and it was something that fascinated Helia; that a grown man was now made into a twelve year old boy with all his memories and experiences of when he was older retained. She was surprised to find out about who and what Spike was, something she said was sure to surprise and amaze her medical staff on the Tria; and she was stunned to find out about Tara and Daniel being from an alternate timeline. The two of them then briefed her on the Stargate Program and everything they had done against the Goa'uld, and their hopes of restarting such a program on Earth.

After two hours of briefings, in which Helia insisted to Dawn that the more advanced technology be kept out of the hands of the people of Earth; something that Thor, and even Daniel and Tara had agreed with. It was the position of the time-displaced SG-1 team-members that surprised Spike, Xander, and the others before they asked if it won't be better for the Earth to have access to some of the more powerful technology. Daniel was the one who explained that while the Earth in his time-line had begun to advance technologically in terms of planetary defence, it was done over a period of time… with several mistakes that the SGC had to fix themselves. Mistakes, that Daniel claimed, helped them to appreciate and properly use the new technology.

He told them about how the SGC themselves had to stop organizations like the NID from misusing the technology that they had collected; he gave the example of the weather device that the NID had stolen from Medrona, a device that the NID was testing which caused Earth's weather to behave erratically while they were experimenting with it… a device that would have wiped out the people of Medrona because their weather wasn't being controlled; something that could have destroyed the entire planet because the NID was so eager to steal technology that they didn't understand.. HE told them that SG-1 was sent to retrieved the device from the NID, and then bring it back to Medrona. .

"If you just hand over advanced technology," said Daniel as he looked at Dawn, and then at Spike, Giles, and the others, "without an organization like the SCG to oversee that technology, then any organization out there can gain access to the tech.. and misuse it. Even within the SGC, we've had problems… but we had to take them out on our own too."

"I'd suggest we begin with power generation," said Tara, "take it slow. Build alliances first, and then trade in technology."

"It we just hand over ZPM's to a world that's not ready yet?" said Daniel as he looked at Dawn, "you're looking at a possible extinction level event if they try doing something they're not sure of. They could detonate the ZPM and take out one whole chunk of the planet, or wipe out nearly the entire solar system."

"You're right," said Dawn as she rubbed her head, "maybe we could talk about technology later on… right now we concentrate more on beating the Wraith."

"There's one more thing you need to consider, Dawn," said Tara, "the city itself. Even after we destroy the Wraith fleet, you know that every country on Earth will be coming after the city."

"No one will want one city to have such advanced tech," said Xander as Spike nodded his head.

"Are the politics on Earth that bad?" asked Helia.

"It could be much worse," said Giles, "I'm sure there are nations that'll respect Atlantis' sovereignty as long as technology is shared, but other nations will want to carve out the city for themselves."

"What are you saying?" asked Dawn.

"The city cannot stay on Earth, High Councillor," said Helia, "perhaps on a planet where the civilization is already on a level similar to our own."

"Like the Tollan, if they exist in this time line," said Daniel before he explained about the Tollan, and their refusal to give technology… even medical technology, to so-called primitive people. Tara then told them about how that arrogance destroyed the planet after the Goa'uld attacked using weapons that were designed by Anubis using some Ancient knowledge.

"Daniel and I could help with starting a new SGC after all of this is done," said Tara, "but for right now, maybe medical technology and power generation technology is what should be shared… especially since there will be a lot of injured people, and power will be out in various places because of the Wraith attack."

"I agree," said Thor, "the Asgard will provide medical assistance as well, and I will speak to the High Council in regards to other ways that we could help Earth."

Back in the present time, Dawn nodded at Daniel and grinned at Tara, still being unable to believe that the blonde witch was standing in front of her. Dawn then shook her head and called Daniels attention to the screen in front of them, all the while as Tara walked towards Dawn and put her arm around her shoulders. Dawn looked back at Tara and gave the widest grin possible before she pointed at the screen which showed a scan of the planet below, "the facilities are located in the mountains to the north, and in the flat grasslands to the East. There are a lot of villages, five close by the Stargate. I was thinking that we land on the ocean."

"So as not to frighten the local populace," said Helia.

"Oh, they're gonna be frightened either way," said Daniel as he looked at the screen.

"They're all human, right?" asked Bay.

"Yes," said Helia as she pointed at a few symbols on the top left corner of the scan.

"Can I step out into the sun on this ball?" asked Spike as Dawn checked the reading from the sun, and compared the readings to the Lantean sun, and frowned. She looked at the platinum blonde man, and said that he could survive for a little while before he had to get out of the sun.

"It's not as intense as Earth, so I give you maybe eight hours out in the sun before you start to smoke," said Spike as Helia chuckled.

"Hey," said Spike as Helia shook her head and waved her hands, "not funny… see how you feel getting barbecued,"

"Barbecue?" asked Helia.

"Believe me, Captain," said Dawn, "there's a lot of things you'll be experiencing… and meat cooked over a naked flame is only the first."

Helia just nodded her head at Dawn before looking at the screen again.

"I recommend we take three Gateships to the facility in the North, and two to the one on the East," said Helia.

"Dawn," said Daniel as he looked at the screen, and then at Tara who nodded her head before looking at Dawn, "Tara and I would like to take a Jumper…. one of the Gateships to the villages and… well, introduce ourselves."

"Would that be wise?" asked Helia.

"There's going to be a lot of frightened people down there," said Daniel, "and making first contact with new civilizations and cultures is kind of the SGC mandate."

"And just because it doesn't exist here," said Tara, "doesn't mean we don't stop, plus this is their home now… it's better to introduce ourselves to the neighbours. Even if it is for a short visit."

"Then I'd like to go with you," said Giles as the others looked at him, "this is a once in a lifetime chance to meet humans who were transplanted from Earth to another world. Like Dr. Jackson said, this is a whole new culture that evolved independently from Earth."

"Oh you'd be amazed at how some civilizations reflect the civilization that they came from," said Daniel excitedly, "there's a planet called Argos where…"

"Daniel," said Tara, "there's gonna be a lot of time for you to talk about the Argosians… we have this for right now."

"Sorry," said Daniel as he looked at Giles, "but there's a lot I'd like to talk to you about."

"Of course," said Giles excitedly.

"I'll go too," said Dawn as Helia nodded her head, "and I'm pretty sure that Spike, Xander and the others would like to meet them and.."

"Dawn," said Tara as she looked at the brunette, "let me and Daniel go by ourselves. We'll tell them who we are, and why we're here. And then we'll tell them that you and some of the others would like to meet them. These are a good, and kind people in my timeline… but it's better to just make it a small group. Once we're given the okay from the villagers, Daniel and I will contact you and then the others can meet us."

"That is a good point as well," said Giles as he shook his head, slightly disappointed that he would have to wait before meeting a race of humans on another planet.

"All right," said Dawn nodding her head, "the two of you'll be the introductory group."

"That's what SG-1 does," said Daniel as he shrugged his shoulders, "we do the meet and greet, and we're the one who gets shot at."

"Yeah," said Tara with a frown, "that just sucks."

"Captain," said Dawn as she looked at Helia, "I launched the city, which was easy. But I'm not sure about the landing. Do you have anyone who could take over?"

"Of course," said Helia, "and may I recommend that we launch the Tria and the Belisknir off the piers, we can re-dock once the city has landed."

"Do it," said Dawn, "inform Supreme Commander Thor, and please have the teams that are going out to the underground facilities report to the Gateship bays. I'd like for them to leave once the city has landed."

"Very Well," said Helia nodding her head before she went to a console and made and announcement while Dawn turned to Tara and Daniel.

"We'll contact you once we've made contact with the natives, Dawnie," said Tara as Dawn nodded her head before Tara and Daniel left the control room, leaving Dawn wondering why it was that the two of them were so eager to land on this world instead of the others.

**Surface of Edina, a few minutes later.**

It was just a journey by horses of thirty minutes from the two neighbouring villages to a vast clearing, past the acres of farmland so that there could be a double celebration; one for the successful harvest, and the commencement of a wedding where the entirety of two villages, nearly one hundred and fourteen people, were invited to witness the wedding of one of their respective village's son and daughter. There were various tents set up, two of which had edges that were covered all around; they were for the bride and the groom. The smell of food being cooked wafted through the air, as lights were hung all around the area; the entire surrounding area had a celebratory tone as adults mingled and children played with each other while others played musical instruments in the background.

It was at the groom's tent that a blonde, curly haired woman in her late thirties walked in carrying a two year old boy who was smiling widely at seeing the nervous young man who was just sitting down, and then pacing about, and then repeating the process for the past few minutes before the woman walked into the tent.

"Soren," said the woman as the young man turned around and smiled, first at the toddler who was jumping in the woman's arms, and then at the woman herself, "you look handsome. Karina is lucky to be getting married to you."

"Thank you, Aunt Joyce," said Soren as he bowed his head slightly before Joyce handed the young man the toddler just as another man with short brown hair walked into the tent and smiled at Soren.

"Uncle Jayden," said Soren as he nodded his head while the toddler, who was in Soren's arms now, was jumping and reaching for Jayden. Jayden then smiled at Joyce, and gave the woman a peck on the lips… an action that made Jay cover his eyes while Soren chuckled.

"Joyce and I just came from congratulating Karina," said Jayden while he carried Jay in his arms, "she looks very beautiful."

"She does indeed," said another man, followed by a dark haired woman behind him, who walked into the tent and hugged the young man, "congratulations, my son."

"And I wonder who Jay will wed when he's come of age," said the woman, Soren's mother, with a chuckle as Joyce laughed while Jay shook his said and said 'no' in a squeaky voice.

"That's years from now," said Joyce who chuckled again when Jay said 'no' once again.

Suddenly, they heard a buzz, and a sound of thunder, from outside followed by screams. Joyce and the others looked at each other before they ran out onto the clearing where they saw their guests pointing up to the sky. It was Soren who gasped when he saw Karina in her simple white dress as she stepped out of her tent with her own parents; the both of them were looking at each other just before Soren's father, who was looking up in shock, tapped on his shoulder and told him to look up.

Now everyone, including Joyce, looked up at the sky as they saw a fireball streak down... a fire ball which then made another sound of thunder, a fireball that had two objects on either side. A few seconds later, Joyce saw that the fire was gone as the three objects streaked overhead; the objects were far up in the sky, but she could make out blue light from underneath the large object in the middle, as well as grey coloured towers. She then made out the long ship that was flying along it's left side, and the ship that looked as if it had a hammerhead flying along its right side. She saw them fly overhead and out into the distance over the farmlands and the clearing, and the trees until they were just pinpricks in the sky, and then the vanished over the horizon.

Joyce and Jayden then looked at each other, silently wondering between them if this was the day that the former might have to leave. As if reading their minds, Joyce held Jayden's hand tight and told him that they weren't sure what was going on.

"And you're my husband," said Joyce looking at Jayden with love in her eyes, "Jay's our son, I'm happy here with you and…."

"What if you have a chance to go back home?" whispered Jayden as Soren, and his parents, stood next to them. Out of the entire village that Joyce belonged to, only Jayden and his brother, their nephews, and new sister-in-law knew the truth about where Joyce really came from; a distant planet called Earth. And as they stood together, they wondered what would happen now; what would happen if these were Joyce's people come to take her home.

"Ma-ma," said Jay as he reached for Joyce, who took him in her arms as they looked out into the distance, and wondered if they should continue, or seek shelter just in case these were bad people. The question going through Jayden's mind was what would they do if these really were bad people, the Edinians were simple farmers and had no experience in war… and from the ships that flew over them, Jaydon guessed that they were dealing with people with an extremely high level of technology.

There was only thing he could do, as one of the village elders.

"Get back to our villages," said Jayden before he looked at his brother, "Aren, send a message through to our guests… I want all women and children to…"

"Da-da," said Jay as he pointed to the distance while some of the other guests gasped.

Jay and Joyce, as well as many others standing next to them saw three cylindrical objects fly right over them and then head towards the mountains in the distance, while another two headed towards the villages, they saw the ships fly over, and past them to the distant trees. The group then turned around again when they heard another buzzing sound.

"This could be a problem?" said Joyce as she then looked at another ship heading towards them.

The ship, a cylindrical green coloured ship, flew over them before it came about and then circled over them. The ship then hovered as it started to lower itself while its short wings retracted back into its body, its front window facing the crowd in front of it. It was then that Joyce's eyes went wide open when she looked at the short haired blonde woman who was looking back at her.

Joyce's eyes started to water while her mouth remained open in shock.

She didn't move, but her arms and legs trembled while the woman, and then the man next to her got off their seats while a door at the rear of the ship opened.

"Ma-ma?" asked Jay as Joyce looked down at the little boy in her arms with tears streaming down her face, and then at Jayden who gave her a small smile. Joyce then turned to the man and the woman who were walking towards them, both of them with smiles on their faces. As the woman got closer, Joyce could see tears streaming down her face as well, tears that she was constantly wiping away.

The crowd was mumbling among them as Soren and Karina stood together while the two strangers stopped in front of Jayden, and Soren's father.

"Elder Jayden," said the man as Jayden looked on in surprise, as did Joyce.

"Who are you?" asked Jayden, "and how do you know my name?"

"There's a lot of things that need to be explained," said the man before he looked at Joyce, "Mrs. Summers, my name is Dr. Daniel Jackson, and this is…"

"Tara," said Joyce with a broken voice as she held Jay close to her while reaching out with one hand; she reached behind Tara as the blonde witch took the last few steps forward and hugged Joyce tightly. Joyce had her eyes closed tight while she sobbed; and at the same time Jay placed his hand on Tara's cheeks while the blonde held on tight to Joyce.

"Hi, sweetie," said Tara gently, both to Joyce, and to Jay. She then looked at Jayden, and noticed that he had the same aura as the Jayden in her timeline when they found Joyce on Edina after Loki had cloned her, and then had the original Joyce replaced. However, it was the clone who died, and was then later buried. Because of that, Loki couldn't return Joyce back to Sunnydale since the cloned body was already dead… and he didn't want the Asgard Science Council to catch onto him. So he deposited Joyce on Edina, and then went on his way.

Tara felt Joyce pull back and then the both of them wiped their tears while Daniel looked around him, and then noticed the lights and the smell of food in the air, and the formal dresses that everyone seemed to be wearing; especially a couple who looked to be more formal than the others, with the young woman wearing a white gown.

"Oh boy," said Daniel as he looked at Joyce, "we came at a bad time, didn't we?"

"No," said Soren as his wife-to-be shook her head.

"How did you.. you find me?" asked Joyce as numerous other questions flew about.

"Were you people from these things that fell out of the sky?"

"Are you here to enslave us?"

Those were some of the questions being asked, so it was Jayden who asked everyone to remain silent and let the two strangers answer.

"My name's Dr. Daniel Jackson, and my friend here is Dr. Tara Maclay-Rosenberg," said Daniel.

"Maclay-Rosenberg?" asked Joyce excitedly, "Tara, you married Willow?"

"It's a long story, Mrs. Summers," said Tara as sadness took over just for a second before she shook her head; it was something that Joyce didn't miss, but wanted to let Daniel finish what he wanted to say first.

"It's kind of complicated where we're form," said Daniel as he raised his voice and spoke to everyone around them, "all we can say is that we're explorers from a planet called Earth. And we've come here in a city-ship, and two other vessels so that we could replenish supplies before heading back to our home-world."

"Earth is under attack by a very powerful enemy," said Tara as she glanced at the looked of shock on Joyce, "and we need to spend two hours here, at least, so that we could run checks and replenish weapons. Your people have nothing to fear from us, or from the Lanteans, or from… from the Asgard."

"The Asgard?" asked Joyce as she stepped back with her eyes wide open in surprise.

"Tara," said Daniel as he looked at the blonde witch, "Mrs Summers needs to know the truth, I'll contact…. You know who."

"Please tell Thor about Loki?" asked Tara as he looked at Daniel, while Joyce looked at the both of them stunned. Daniel nodded his head, he then walked back to the jumper where his first call was to Dawn, and then the second call was to Thor on a secured channel where he went on to explain what Loki did in his timeline. In the meantime, Tara told Joyce the truth about who she and Daniel were, and that she had already met Jayden and Jay in an alternate timeline; that Joyce was found on Edina only a few years ago from her perspective. However, Tara left out the details about how she was found sicne she intended to share that once Dawn arrived.

"If what you say is true," said Jayden as the others mumbled among themselves at hearing a fantastic story, "then did Joyce go home?"

"She visited Earth," said Tara with a smile, "but her home was with her husband, her son Jay, and her daughter on Edina."

"I have a daughter?" asked Joyce as Tara shook her head.

"You were due a month after we were set for the mission to the past," said Tara softly, "she was never born… but you said that you wanted to name her either Elizabeth, or Rose."

"Have you met my brother? And his family?" asked Jayden as he introduced Aren and his wife, and then their son and soon-to-be daughter-in-law.

"No," said Daniel as he walked up to Tara's side, "when we changed the past, the ripple effect must have changed a lot of things. The Jayden we knew didn't have a brother."

"Oh," said Aren.

"So you are not here to enslave us?" shouted a voice from the back as Joyce frowned while Tara chuckled.

"No, we are not," said Daniel shaking his head.

"But they will be joining the festivities," said Soren as he looked at the others behind him, and then at Daniel and Tara, "that is if you wish."

"Well," said Daniel and Tara together.

"You all right with a few more guests?" asked Tara as another ship flew over the large group before it came around and landed next to Daniel's ship. Daniel and Tara stepped aside so that Joyce could get a clear view into the ship through the front window, and the older blonde immediately brought her hand to her mouth and gasped. Jayden, and the others in front, looked at Joyce, and then at the young woman in the ship, and the people next to her who were now standing in shock. He saw the brunette scream before she rushed out of the vessel, followed by the others. Jayden heard Joyce sobbing as he picked up Jay from her arms as she brought her other hand over her mouth and closed her eyes, tears streaming down her face before she ran past Daniel and Tara; all to hug her daughter.

"Mommy," said Dawn as she closed her eyes, tears streaming down her face, while she tightened her grip around the older woman's shoulders; it was the same thing that Joyce was doing as the both of them went down onto their knees together. Dawn was sobbing on Joyce's shoulder as she opened her eyes slightly while she held on to the back of Joyce's head and looked at Daniel and Tara.

She saw their knowing smiles before closing her eyes again.

'They knew,' thought Dawn to herself as she pulled back and wiped her tears while Joyce held on to both of the brunette's cheeks, 'they knew about mom… which means… the other timeline. The same thing or.. or something similar happened… mommy.'

"You're so beautiful, honey," said Joyce in a broken voice as she scanned Dawn's face, "you've grown up so much."

"How.. how is this…?" asked Dawn before Giles interrupted her.

"Joyce?"

"Mrs. Summers?" asked both Xander and Oz together, while Bay with Kelden in her arms just looked on surprised.

"Joyce?" asked Spike as the older woman stood up with Dawn who wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.

"Spike," said Joyce as she hugged the surprised vampire, who then wrapped his arms around her back, "it's good to see you."

"You're not a vampire, are you?" asked Spike after Joyce had stepped back giggling while shaking her head.

"No," said Joyce before she kissed his cheek, and then she hugged Xander.

"Xander," said Joyce as she hugged him, "what happened to your eye?"

"Long story," said Xander while he held her tight, "how are you alive?"

"Long story," said Joyce smiling at Xander before she hugged Oz.

"Welcome back to the land of the living," said Oz before he introduced Bay to the surprised Joyce as his wife, and then introduced her to his son, Kelden.

"He's so adorable," said Joyce pinching the young boy's cheeks before Xander pointed at the twelve year old boy who was wiping his eyes before fixing his glasses back on his face.

"Hello, Joyce,"

"Oh dear lord," said Joyce surprised, she recognized the voice, it was squeaky but it still had the familiar sound of the person she knew was Buffy's Watcher, "Rupert? What happened to you?"

"Long story," said Giles as Joyce knelt down and hugged the former watcher.

It was a few seconds later that Joyce pulled back and got on her feet before grabbing Dawn's arm and pulling her to Jayden while motioning at the others, telling them that there was someone they had to meet.

Tara put her hand on Dawn's shoulder as she passed the blonde witch, and Dawn then gave her a tight hug, while whispering thank you in her ear. Dawn then hugged Daniel before she pulled back as Joyce walked back towards her with a little toddler in her arms, and a man next to her who was giving her a small smile.

"Dawnie," said Joyce as she held on to Jay in her arms while she motioned towards the man next to her, "I want you to meet Jayden, my husband."

Jayden nodded his head at Dawn whose look of surprise turned to a smile as she looked at Jayden, and then at Joyce and the toddler in her arms, and then back to Jayden once again.

"And this," said as she held on to Jay's arm and waved it at Dawn, "is Jay. Your brother."

"Oh wow," said Dawn as she walked towards Jay with trembling feet.

"Jay," said Joyce as she pointed at Dawn who was now holding onto Jay's hand, "this is your older sister, Dawn."

"Daw," said Jay as he reached out for Dawn, who took him in her arms and laughed as he wrapped his hands around her neck and rested his head on her shoulder, "Daw."

"I'm Daw," said Dawn as she closed her eyes and hugged her brother, "I'm Daw. I have a brother."

"I suppose we have another thing to celebrate now," said Soren as he approached the newcomers, "please… join us. This is an auspicious day; the celebration of our harvest, a wedding, and the reunion of a family."

"We have plenty of food," said Aren as Xander perked up.

"I am kinda hungry," said Xander.

"Dawnie," said Tara, "we have two hours before we're done, you should enjoy yourself… but before that… I think I should talk to you and Mrs Summers in private about what happened; who we are, how we got here, and she needs to know about Buffy and what's happening on Earth."

"OK," said Dawn nodding her head.

"Please," said Jayden as he turned around, "let us returned to our festivities… my nephew is correct, this is indeed an auspicious day. Let us feast!"

"Go on, guys," said Daniel as he nodded towards the Scoobies, "welcome to a whole new world."

"This is amazing," said Giles softly as he walked into the crowd of excited people, as did Bay, Oz and Kelden. Spike was unusually flustered when two women grabbed his hands and pulled him into the crowd while Daniel, Tara, Dawn, and Joyce walked back to the Puddle Jumper. Once inside, Joyce and Dawn hugged again… the older woman wanting to make sure that she wasn't imagining things and that her daughter was real.

Dawn then sat down with Joyce while Tara and Daniel were sitting close by as they began to tell Joyce everything. Daniel and Tara started by telling her details about the timeline they came from. They then went on a quick history of the Ancients, and the Stargate Program and details on how they found their Joyce Summers; they told Joyce about who Willow really was while leaving out information about Hera on purpose. Daniel and Tara then told Joyce about the travel to Earth's past, and went into quick detail about the uprising on Earth. Joyce's eyes went wide in shock when she heard about the deaths of an alternate version of her oldest daughter, and Willow… as well as their friends.

"Buffy is alive in this timeline," said Dawn as Joyce looked at her, "she's fighting the Wraith.. the aliens that these guys told you about."

"So Willow's this Ancient from Atlantis; as in the lost city of Atlantis?" asked Joyce as she looked at the three of them who nodded their heads, "I mean the old Willow… the alternate Willow knows who she really is? Wow… and you said she has a sister? I heard you mention a Hera? Did she ever find her? And… I mean, why wasn't she ascended then when you guys came here and she died and…"

"We don't know," said Tara, "maybe because there was already an Athena here in the ascended plains?"

"Oh," said Joyce.

"There's something else you should know," said Dawn as Joyce looked at her, "I'm Hera… I'm Athena's sister."

"What?" asked Joyce as she looked at her daughter.

"I know it's a lot to take in, mom," said Dawn, "and no matter what I tell you… you're my mother, and Buffy;s my oldest sister."

Dawn then quickly told Joyce the reason why she descended; and after Joyce knew the whole story, all the older woman could do was caress Dawn's cheeks before hugging her again. Joyce wouldn't have believed Dawn if she hadn't already been abducted by a race of aliens who just wanted to find a cure to their disease based on what Tara had told her… but being on an alien planet changed her outlook on the universe, and she had wondered how many worlds' there were with life teeming on them.

Joyce held Dawn tight as she tried to understand the sacrifice it took Dawn to descend to the lower plains, 'you gave up everything to contain the Key; your real mother, your family, your immortality, your knowledge… I'm torn. I'm sad that you had to give up so much, but I'm so glad you did because if you didn't, then you would be in our lives.'

"I love you," said Joyce into Dawn's ear.

"I love you too, mommy," said Dawn just as there was a knock on the door. Everyone then looked at Jayden, while Joyce and dawn wiped their eyes, who himself was looking at the inside of the ship with his eyes wide open.

"Umm…" said Jayden before he lay his eyes on Dawn and Joyce, before giving them a smile, "we're ready to begin."

"Come on," said Joyce as she helped Dawn stand up before nodding at Tara and Daniel who stood up as well. Joyce and Dawn walked out of the Jumper with Jayden, with Daniel and Tara following them down the ramp before the latter pressed the button on the side to raise the ramp. The SG-1 members then walked closely behind Dawn and the others while whispering to each other.

"Maybe we should contact the Tok'ra?" asked Tara.

"I don't think they can help us," whispered Daniel, "remember, they work in the dark. And I don't think they have any ships that could help us. These are ZPM powered hive ships and cruisers, they're no match for Goa'uld shields which the Tok'ra will be using. Our best chance is to get Atlantis to Earth, and fire the drone weapons."

"Think we can take all of them out?" asked Tara as she looked at Daniel.

"No idea," said Daniel, "but enough I suppose until the Asgard get to Earth and help us."

"Hopefully," said Tara as Daniel nodded his head.

"Then we contact the Tok'ra," said Daniel, "we can help set-up a new SGC, and help with gathering allies. After the Wraith, we have the Goa'uld."

"Abydos, first?" asked Tara as she looked at Daniel who gave a small smile, "you think Sha're is alive?"

"I hope so," replied Daniel as he and Tara followed Dawn to the wedding ceremony that was about to begin.

**Presidential Bunker, Washington, D.C, an hour later.**

With the Wraith mostly using their darts to gather humans, and shoot down the demons that were coming out of the woodwork; the Slayers and other humans, mostly military personnel, were forced to take cover. It was believed that the Wraith were slowing down their ground operations based on what the Slayers, witches, and demons were seeing… all of whom were sending information to Willow who was in the Presidential bunker with Buffy, Kennedy, Angel, Faith, and a few other Slayers.. as well as Vin and Sophie who were slightly injured during their battles.

"They're beaming humans up to their ships," said Willow as she rubbed her forehead and closed her eyes once, "more darts are in the sky instead of the Wraith ground troops. I think they're trying to mow down the demons that come up for air.. and in.. wait…"

"Will?" asked Kennedy as she walked up to the redhead and put her bruised hands on the witch's shoulders, and started to give her a massage to get her to relax, "what is it?"

"Barcelona.. Madrid… Paris… Marseille… Portland… dear God… so many cities," said Willow as she shook her head, "Slayers and witches reporting that the vast majority of demons are being killed by the plasma strikes… targeted strikes."

"How's that possible?" asked Angel.

"They must have taken demons up to their ships," said Willow as she opened her eyes as she suddenly grabbed her head and screamed before going on her knees.

"Willow," said Kennedy as she crouched beside her with one arm around her shoulders and comforted the panting redhead while Buffy and Faith ran to Willow as well, while the others could only look on concerned.

"Willow," said Sophie, "release your connection with the others…"

"But…" said Willow as she looked through eyes that were tearing up.

"You're being a focal point for their communications," said Vi, "release it, now… or else you will go mad."

"Done" said Willow as she released all connections to the outside world, but not before telling the Slayers and witches to contact her in an emergency.

"What happened?" asked President Hayes.

"Demons," said Willow panting as Kennedy helped her up, "thousands screaming at once… I.. I was just overwhelmed. I was connected to everyone… Slayers, Witches, demons and…. And they're dead. Every demon that was on our side… just became silent after screams."

"Eldre Koh?" asked Buffy, and Willow shook her head before saying that she couldn't feel him anywhere.

"But, how?" asked Sophie.

"Oh dear God," said Willow s she closed her eyes again when she received a magical distress call which immediately vanished, "they took out Wolfram and Hart in L.A, Madrid, Hong Kong, name it… demon nests have been destroyed… they're taking out the demons first. Dear God, some cities already have the Wraith soldiers back on the ground taking humans and… and…."

"Willow," said a familiar voice as everyone in that room looked to their left and saw Amy Madison standing weakly to one side of the room. Buffy was about to approach her when Willow asked her to stop, saying that Amy wasn't there.. that it was a projection, "help me… please… I… the witches I was with are dead and.. and they're coming after me."

"Good," said Kennedy, "after everything you did… do you really think that we'll help you?"

"You think I want to ask for her help?" hissed an outraged Amy pointing at Willow, "you think I want to beg her? Why the fuck do you think I've been hiding myself from her… the so-called greatest witch on the planet… a witch who probably started this whole problem with these… these things that not only killed the witches in my D.C coven and…"

"Then they didn't finish the job," said Buffy.

"Screw you, Slayer," said Amy as she looked at Buffy, and then at Willow, "but I'm putting my pride to one side… I know it's too late, but maybe I can help fix your mistake, Willow. What did you do? Think you have so much power, and so you decide to test it out? In addition to murdering my boyfriend, you open a window into another dimension and let these things in?! What the hell did you do?!"

"Nothing," said Willow, "they.. they're from another galaxy. Damn it, Amy… these are honest to goodness aliens here. If you wanna help, tell me where you are and I'll…"

"You can't be serious?" asked Kennedy.

"Yeah, Will," said Buffy, "she's dangerous… you know this."

"But she's in the same boat as us," said Willow, "we need her to come up with a defence… I mean we've got Sophie and Vi here, but we need more so that we could mount a defence. And I've already told the other covens around the world to work on something to protect the humans… but it's gonna take time. And Amy's a powerful witch, second to only Tara."

"Gee, thanks," said Amy, "comparing me to your dead girlfriend is so… oh Goddess."

"Amy?" asked Willow as she looked at the frightened woman in front of her who looked over her shoulder before whispering.

"I hear… oh God, the Wraith… they're here," said Amy.

"I'm coming," said Willow as she closed her eyes and prepared a teleportation spell as the image of Amy vanished.

"I'm going with you," said Buffy as she tightened her grip on the Scythe.

"But…." said Willow as Buffy interrupted her by saying that Amy had screwed with them too many times to count. The blonde Slayer wanted Angel to go along with them, in case they encountered Wraith.

"And just in case Amy tries to use this attack to do something you, Will," said Buffy as Willow nodded her head. Buffy then looked at Kennedy and Faith, telling her two lieutenants that she'll be back soon. Buffy saw that Faith was about to say something, however the blonde interrupted her by saying that she didn't want to risk the lives of the other Slayers in the bunker, "and if anything happens to me."

"B," said Faith as she stepped forward, interrupting Buffy while shaking her head, "you're gonna come back and…"

"If anything happens to me," repeated Buffy as she looked at the Scythe in her hand, and then back up to Faith, "lead them, Faith. They've always looked up to you, lead them if I don't make it."

"B…" said Faith as she grabbed the Scythe after Buffy threw it at her. The blonde Slayer then nodded at Satsu who threw one of her two Katanas to Buffy, and then thanked the Asian slayer.

"Lead them if I don't make it," said Buffy as she looked at the sheathed sword, and then back at Faith, "if I do, then I'll take the Scythe back… if it makes you feel better."

Faith couldn't help but smirk at Buffy before nodding her head.

"Come back in one piece, B," said Faith.

Willow then teleported herself, Buffy, and Angel to an area of D.C that was just rubble and human bodies laid out in many places; most of them dried husks.

"The Wraith were here," said Buffy when the three of them turned suddenly to look at some rubble to their left. They were hearing muffled sounds of a woman saying 'help me'. Buffy and the others ran as fast as they could, the Slayer throwing away the sheath onto the ground while they were running. Angel ran alongside Willow who readied her magic, and Buffy who readied the katana as they ran around the large piece of a fallen building when they saw a Wraith on top of Amy, who was screaming. The Wraith pushed its palm onto her chest and was about to feed when Willow fired a magical bolt at the creature to throw it off the blonde witch. Willow then kneeled next to Amy to check on her, while Angel stood protectively behind the redhead and kept an eye out for other Wraith while Buffy swung her Katana and cut the head off the Wraith that tried to feed on Amy.

"Amy?" said Willow as she tapped on the witch's cheeks for a few seconds until she opened her eyes, "you okay?"

"No," said Amy as Willow helped her sit up while Buffy walked back towards her, Willow and Angel, "but looks like the cavalry's here."

"Yeah," said Buffy as she glared at Amy who slowly got up thanks to Willow who helped the blonde stand up.

"I always thought that you'd be coming here, Buffy," said Amy as she smiled at the blonde, before looking at Willow, "you glad that I've come begging you for help?"

"You're the one who went into darkness," said Willow, "you helped me push myself me in, I nearly destroyed the world, and I dug myself out with the help of my friends. And no, that does not mean that I'm glad you begged. If you asked, I'd have still helped you."

"You know what's funny?" said Amy as she put her hand on Willow's shoulder, "you have all this power that you never earned in the first place."

"Not this again, Amy," said Willow, "we don't…"

"Then I find out that you're named after a goddess," said Amy as Willow looked at her confused, as did Buffy and Angel while Amy's right hand remained by her side, "I don't know how you're who you are right now, but I was told that you were once known as Athena."

"You… what?" asked Willow confused, "Amy…"

"Not only have you gained power without even trying," said Amy as she glared at Willow, "you were named after one of the greatest goddesses ever! You have everything… power, the name… everything that every witch could never accomplish in their lifetime and… and no more."

"What did you do?" asked Willow when she felt something hit her in her abdomen just as Buffy and Angel were pushed back by an unseen force. Willow opened her mouth wide when she felt another jolt that caused energy to crackle all over her body. She looked down at a handheld weapon that de-cloaked in Amy's hand aimed at her abdomen, and then she looked back up at a smiling Amy. Willow couldn't concentrate as her muscles went limp, and she felt herself falling onto the ground before darkness took her.

Angel was the first to get up, and he saw Amy fire multiple blue energy bolts at Buffy who was being forced down by magic every time she started to get up. Angel vamped out while Amy continued to fire at Buffy as she laughing, and then he lunged at Amy. Just before reaching the witch, Angel felt himself being pushed back hard against some rumble. Amy was crackling with laughter as she continued to shoot Buffy until the blonde Slayer collapsed on the ground. Angel tried to move, but he found that he couldn't move his arms and legs as Amy put her weapon down, and then reached into her other pocket and took out a device that she pressed down on.

"What did you do!" growled Angel as he tried to move when he looked up and heard buzzing sounds in the sky.

"The Slayer's alive," said Amy as she looked at the unconscious Willow, "I told the Queen about the Slayers, and when the Wraith found it suddenly hard to kill them… I told them that I'll get the Queen of the Slayers. And Athena too… she will feed on Willow just as she always wanted to and… oh no you don't."

Amy used her magic to smash Angel's head multiple times into the debris before speaking again.

"You're trying to contact the witches at the bunker," said Amy as she looked at Angel, "you're gonna call them after I leave with these two. You're gonna tell them that the world as it was, is no more. The Wraith will experiment on Buffy… but I know they won't find anything since her powers are mystical. She'll die… and then we'll hang her body to show all the Slayers that the Queen is dead… and then… then the Wraith Queen will feed on Willow once Dawn comes back from whatever place she's gone to. She'll feed on them both… and I'll hang Willow's body. The greatest witch will be dead.. and I'll take her place. The Wraith Queen will destroy the demons, and humans will live in peace… of course there will be the occasional culling here and there… but we'll be able to carry on with our lives."

"You'll be a pariah," said Angel as his wounds started to heal, "I'll lead the vampires and.."

"The Wraith Queen knows that you have no life force," said Amy, "once Willow, and Buffy are dead. Once the Slayers lose their focus and start getting killed on the battle field, I'll approach vampires and tell them the Wraith Queen's offer… something I negotiated myself actually; a million humans, a million living blood packs to call their own. All the Humans remain under my 'protection', they will breed, and be food for the Wraith. An I'll rule them all… of course there'll be cullings… but we can negotiate; maybe a few centuries so that we replace the livestock. Of course there will be some who, like me, will worship them."

"You're crazy," said Angel.

"You don't know, vampire," said Amy, "you have no life, so you don't know… when they feed on you… it's the greatest high, and then when they return the life-force… oh boy, think of it like having a multitude of orgasms all at once. It's so.. so good."

"Again," hissed Angel, "you are nuts."

"Goodbye, vampire," said Amy as Angel closed his eyes after finding his mind was clear, and called Sophie and Vi to send back-up as two darts were almost on them. Angel watched the alien ships teleport Willow, Buffy, and Amy away before flying into the sky just as Sophie, Faith, and Satsu teleported in.

"What happened?" asked Faith as Angel collapse onto the ground, "Angel?"

"Amy played us," said Angel as he fell onto the ground, "we're screwed."

TBC.

 


	12. Chapter 12

**Edina, five minutes later.**

Bay and Oz looked at the two moons in Edina's night sky and smiled at not getting the familiar feeling that would overtake them just before they let the energy of the wolf go through their bodies and into the Earth itself. They weren't transforming, and they didn't even have the feelings associated with the transformation into a werewolf as Kelden lay in Oz's arm while eating a sweet.

"The magic here is different than Earth," said Tara as she walked towards them; and then, when she got close to Kelden, Tara pinched the toddler's cheeks before taking him into her arms, "I can feel it.. you won't transform here, Oz."

"That's good to know," said Oz as he looked at the crowd of people and noticed Dawn dancing with Xander and Joyce, the three of them laughing with Jayden standing at the side with Jay in his arms, waving the toddler's hands at his mother. Oz then saw Giles talking with Daniel, and Spike being surrounded by some of the girls from the village while some of the young men looked on jealous. Oz then looked at Tara who was looking at Daniel and Giles too, before looking back at him and Bay, "how long were you and Willow married?"

"A little less than a year," said Tara as she smiled, "how about you and Bay?"

"More than two," said Oz while Tara smiled at Bay and then at Kelden, "and then we had Kelden."

"You weren't married in my timeline," said Tara as she looked at Oz and then at Bay, and back to Oz once again, "but I'm glad you found someone you love, Oz."

"Thanks," replied Oz, "so.. you've gone to other planets, I mean I know it's out of the blue asking this, and…"

"It's all right," said Tara with a smile as they went to a quiet corner of the clearing near the Jumpers, "yeah, I really joined Willow and Daniel's team after she was possessed by a Goa'uld called Anubis."

"The Ancient Egyptian god of death was an alien too?" said Bay as Tara nodded her head she told Bay and Oz, while holding onto Kelden, about who Anubis really was, and how he took control of Willow's body in the SGC. The two of them looked on surprised while Tara told them how Buffy was the one who put everything on the line to beat back Anubis; and that she herself was knocked out.

"You were knocked out?" asked Oz as Tara nodded her head.

"I was the first one that Anubis possessed," said Tara, "from me, he found out about who Willow was, and the device we had that stopped her powers; well, technically it would have stopped mine too."

"A weapon that stops magic?" asked Oz, "Buffy's not going to like that being in the military."

"Willow was the one who suggested it, because of a dream I had where Anubis used her body to take over Earth," said Tara as Oz looked on surprised, "she wanted something to stop her powers in case something like that happened."

"Oh," said Bay, "so I take it you took Anubis out of Willow?"

"Yeah," replied Tara, "I was conscious again by then… I mean she caused a lot of injuries, thankfully no deaths because of Buffy's interventions, and a lot of damage to the base… but I managed to use magic to get Anubis out of her. Pulled Anubis out of Willow, and put him into a mystical ball..,. and then sent him to a very, very, very hot planet where we knew there would be no life for him to inhabit."

"Oh," replied Bay as Kelden giggled.

"Then there were the robot copies of Sam, Buffy, and Willow," said Tara as Oz and Bay looked at her with eyes wide open, "they're dead. We used a powerful nuclear weapon to wipe them out, we had to destroy our Alpha Site to do it… but in the long run it was worth it."

"That's what I call an experience," said Bay while Tara smiled.

"So," said Tara, "what else happened on Earth?"

**The O'Neill, Deep Space, One hundred and ten light years from Earth; at that same time.**

Egeria, Teal'c, Jolinar, Lantesh, and a few other Tok'ra were standing around the console behind the Command Chair on the bridge of the Tok'ra vessel, O'Neill. They were looking at video of the Wraith fleet over Earth firing on the planet below; the images were coming from a heavily encrypted Tok'ra subspace signal from a Tel'tak that was sent to spy on what was happening from behind Earth's moon. Selmak was flying the ship, and he told Egeria through the subspace signal that two Wraith cruisers were headed to his location.

"They must have found the subspace trail," said Egeria with urgency in her voice as she looked at the data on the screen in front of her, "Selmak, shut down all subspace systems, and head away from the planet. I want you to scan for any ZPM's that remain once the Wraith ships have been destroyed. Ships that size? It can only mean they are powered by ZPM's."

"Understood, my Queen," said Selmak, "deactivating all subspace connections. May we live and die free, My Queen."

"Live free, die free, Selmak," said Egeria in a quiet voice before the signal was cut. Egeria then shook her head before she looked at the pictures, and the video that Selmak had sent, along with all accompanying data.

"The power of the ZPM's are far superior to those produced by the Goa'uld," said Lantesh with Jolinar standing behind him, and next to them was Teal'c who looked at the images of the large ships, and then saw even more smaller darts flying out of the hanger bays while some returned from the surface of the planet and entered the hangers.

"Queen Egeria," said Teal'c as Egeria turned to the Jaffa while he pointed at the hangers, "you have spoken to me of what you know in regards to the Wraith vessels, including their armour with it's self-regeneration capabilities."

"Yes," said Egeria as she looked at the spot that Teal'c was pointing at, and then she smiled, "according to Captain Rosenberg of Samantha's timeline, the Wraith ships are grown to a certain size due to power constraints. Everything they have depends on that one weakness, including the size of their hull armour, and the speed of their regeneration capability."

"Indeed," said Teal'c, "therefore, if the size of these particular ships is due to the vast amount of energy… then it is logical to assume that the armour is much thicker, and the regeneration process is much faster. Which requires us to use the one weakness that remains."

"The hanger bays," said Jolinar as Teal'c looked at her, and then bowed his head, "if those ships can be fired on those particular areas, then we will have a chance."

"Have everyone prepare," said Egeria before she closed her eyes and transferred control to Colonel Carter, "it'll take us approximately ten minutes to get to Earth orbit and only then will we begin using the ZPM on this ship for the Ancient weapons, and the shields. As for the Goa'uld, we know that Apophis doesn't have the Ancient upgrades to his shields, but he'll be coming in first… or at least Anubis will give him the honour of attacking the Wraith first."

"As a diversion," said Teal'c, "Anubis will want Apophis to expend his forces so that Anubis himself could consolidate his power."

"Yeah," replied Colonel Carter, "despite helping defeat Ra, Apophis has the second largest fleet which could eventually rival Anubis. And Anubis is going to want to cut him down."

"Then Anubis will have the larger fleet if survivors flock to him," said Lantesh, "and he'll have full control the rest of the system lords."

"Yea," replied the Colonel before she looked at one of the Tok'ra, "send word to our operatives on Dakara, blow up the Superweapon in twenty minutes; that's about how long it should take for the fleet to reach Earth orbit. We don't want to have Anubis gain access to it when he realizes that he may just lose against the Wraith."

"Is that a possibility?" asked Lantesh as the Tok'ra on the left side of the command change pressed some buttons on the console in front of him and sent a message to the Tok'ra operatives on Dakara.

"Very," replied the Colonel as she looked at the data on the screen, "from what we have on his shield enhancements, they'll hold up longer than the ones that don't have the upgrades. All of our vessels have the upgrades, plus some additional kinks… and the O'Neill has the ZPM. When those Wraith ships are destroyed, we'll gather what ZPM's we can."

"The issue becomes damaging their vessels," said Teal'c.

"We aim for the hangers," said the Colonel, "and hope that the naquada based missiles, and the naquadria nukes can do enough to create an opening in the armour. We will have to compromise it before firing the Ancient weapons systems, and the railguns on our ships to damage, and hopefully destroy the ships."

"Agreed," said Teal'c and the other Tok'ra.

"Then we prepare ourselves," said Egeria after the Colonel let the symbiote take over, "I want our other ships to launch into hyperspace in thirty minutes."

"Understood," said Jolinar as Egeria nodded her head before the Tok'ra went back to their ships, and Teal'c remained with the Queen.

"It is time," said Egeria as Teal'c nodded his head when the Tok'ra manning the console to the right of the Command Chair turned and stood up, something which caught the attention of the departing Tok'ra who stopped and turned upon seeing the look of concern on the Tok'ra's face. The man then told Egeria that they only just received an emergency message from Selmak; the Wraith ships that were heading to his position turned around and started firing on the Goa'uld ships that just jumped out of hyperspace.

"What?" asked Egeria as she looked at the console screen and reconnected the subspace signal to Selmak's ship. Her eyes opened wide when she saw the Goa'uld pyramid ships' shields failing before the Hive ships, and the cruisers, finished them off. Egeria could see that the Wraith ships opened fire just as the hyperspace windows were opening and the Goa'uld ships jumping out, "they are being destroyed before their shields could be raised, at least the first few act as buffers, and the ones coming through after are able to raise their shields in time."

"Their shields have failed, my Queen," said Teal'c as he saw the last five ships get slaughtered by the Wraith ships; the blue plasma bolts hit the Goa'uld shields on the remaining ships, the Tok'ra and Teal'c saw the shields flare before a few more shots shattered it, and then another two shots destroyed the ships completely.

**The Wraith Queen's Hiveship, a few seconds earlier.**

The unconscious Buffy was being carried by a masked Wraith while Willow was walking right next to her; the both of them surrounded by other masked Wraith with their weapons pointed at both Willow and Buffy. Particularly at Buffy who woke up in the hanger bay and was shot multiple times before she could regain full consciousness with the Wraith energy weapons. Willow was glancing over at Buffy, and then at the back of Amy's head before looking down at her hands. The redhead tried to gather magical energy, but found that she wasn't able to, much to her chagrin. So she looked back up at Amy and sneered.

"You betrayed the human race," said Willow as Amy looked over her shoulder while passing windows that looked out into deep space, "Amy, why?"

"I told you why when you woke up in the hanger," replied the blonde witch, "I'm not going to repeat myself."

"You hate me that much?" asked Willow, "Amy, Buffy and the Slayers are the only chance the planet has and…"

"Shut up, Willow," said Amy as she turned around and glared at the redhead, "you have everything handed to you on a platter. The name, the recognition, the power.. oh the power you never earned. Witches and Warlocks have to work double just to be half as good as you over their life time but…"

"Boo, hoo," said the redhead, "that's not my fault. I was curious about magic so I learned things on my own. I went through my ups and downs, I did bad stuff with magic, and then I hit rock bottom and I climbed out with the help of my friends. But this? This is… Amy… look at what you're doing."

"The great Athena," said Amy as Willow narrowed her eyes at the witch walking towards her, "you were named after one of the ancient goddesses, one of the most powerful and.. and you know what? When I take you to the Queen, I'll know the truth. And then…"

Suddenly the entire ship shook with Willow taking the opportunity of the Wraith losing their balance momentarily to do something that she always wanted to do. She rushed at Amy, tackled her onto the floor and then punched her. The redhead was going for another punch when she was hit by an energy bolt that made her body go limp. It was then that Amy, who was bleeding from the nose, pushed the redhead off her and onto the floor. The last thing that Willow saw before losing consciousness was Amy kicking her before she was pulled away by the Wraith, and out the window.. she looked at clouds opening in space as pyramid like ships rushed out and were immediately destroyed. She saw more clouds open up before her eyes closed again.

**The O'Neill, Deep Space, One hundred and ten light years from Earth; at that same time.**

"Selmak," said Egeria, "how many ships were destroyed in the first wave?"

"Twenty-five, my queen," said the Tok'ra.

"Go silent, Selmak," said Egeria softly, trying to hide her disbelief, "inform us once there is another Goa'uld attack."

Once the connection with Selmak was cut once again, Egeria looked at the scan of the Earth from Selmak's ship as well as the location of all the Wraith vessels. She could see that the vast majority of the ships were spread along the Northern Hemisphere, with a few scattered ships along the Southern Hemisphere. Egeria then had an idea, she told the Tok'ra who was seated to the right of her command chair that she was sending him coordinates of hyperspace exit windows right over the South Pole, an area that had only two ships covering it. She told the other Tok'ra that this would be the best place to exit, instead of exiting directly in front of the armada over the planet.

"We will be able to raise our shields," said Egeria as the other Tok'ra nodded their heads. She then then pressed another button and told them to hold off on placing the ZPM into the in-built recess on the inside wall in the engine room, "we will reach the planet together. Once we have arrived, then insert the ZPM. Now, make preparations to leave for Earth."

Lantesh and the others, who returned when Selmak called the O'Neill once again, nodded their heads before they left the bridge to ring over to their ships while Egeria walked over to her Command Chair with Teal'c by her side. Egeria looked up at Teal'c as she sat down and told him that this was it, that the Tok'ra were going to rise up… and she needed him to be the hero of his own story.

"I may die this day, Teal'c," said Egeria, "if I do, then this ship will be under your command."

"My Queen?" asked Teal'c confused.

"My operatives were due to approach you in two years, Teal'c," said Egeria, "we were to begin the rebellion off slow. But now those plans have been fast tracked. If I die, the Tok'ra on this ship will follow you because they know who you are… they know the man you can be. If I die, use your ability to turn people to the side of freedom… and fight."

Egeria then ordered that the operatives on Dakara advance their plans to blow up the superweapon; they were to move in five minutes. After issuing that order, Egeria looked to the Tok'ra on her right side and asked him to send one final message to the Asgard, hoping that they will hear this final message.

"This is Egeria, Queen of the Tok'ra," said Egeria after the Tok'ra on her right side nodded his head and told Egeria that he was ready to send a message on the frequency range that Colonel Carter knew the Asgard would use, "we are an off-shoot of the Goa'uld that have risen up against them. I am sending this message due to the fact that a force called Wraith, from another galaxy, is attacking the planet Earth. This is in addition to the Goa'uld who have begun attacking the Wraith ships; many of the Goa'uld vessels have been destroyed according to our intelligence. All I can say is that more Goa'uld are coming to the home of the Tau'ri. I am asking for help in the defence of Earth. I have fourteen ships prepared for a hyperspace jump to Earth… we are prepared to fight the Wraith, and the Goa'uld to protect the Tau'ri. To any Asgard to receives this message, I am requesting aid… aid to help us battle this enemy. An enemy that will spread and destroy the human occupied worlds of this galaxy. Once again, this is Queen Egeria of the Tok'ra. And with or without the Asgard, we are going to battle."

"Message has been sent," said the Tok'ra as Egeria nodded her head before asking if all her ships were prepared to depart.

"All ships report ready, my Queen," said the Tok'ra to her left.

"This is the O'Neill," said Egeria as she sat back on the Command Chair, "to all ships; prepare to enter hyperspace on my mark. Three, Two, One, Mark."

In the emptiness of space among the stars, fourteen ships of the Tok'ra entered hyperspace tunnels; tunnels that would lead them to war.

**Edina, five minutes later.**

Thor was on the bridge of the Belisknir behind his console and sitting on his command chair. He was looking at reports that were coming in on the completed repairs on their weapons, shields, and sensors. The Asgard had managed to increase the effectiveness of their weapons power so when they encountered the Wraith once again, they would stand a chance. The grey alien then contacted Captain Helia on Atlantis and spoke to her about how far Atlantis had until they had finished collecting ZPMs and replenishing the drones.

"Hera had asked that we take four full complements of the Potentia with us," said Helia, "and our drone stores are nearly at capacity. I have spoken with Hera over the Gateship communication systems; she knows that we will be able to leave for Earth earlier than expected.

"The Asgard are ready as well," said Thor as Helia nodded her head, "and…"

"Supreme Commander?" asked Helia when she saw the grey alien look to one side of his console with his head tilted to one side in confusion. She then saw Thor look back at her before saying that he was receiving a subspace message that was audio in nature only. Thor then played the message so that both he and Helia could hear it; and the Lantean's eyes went wide when she heard that the Tok'ra were heading to Earth to help defend it against the Wraith and the Goa'uld.

"Have you heard of the Tok'ra, Supreme Commander?" asked Helia once the message had stopped playing.

"No, we have not," said Thor who was aware that their protected planets had devices to combat the Goa'uld, powerful devices that would have prevented the Goa'uld from even approaching those planets. He and his people had battled the Goa'uld for thousands of years, and not once had he heard of the term 'Tok'ra'. But he wondered if Daniel and Tara had heard about them, given that in their timeline, they had made various alliances. Thor then asked Helia for permission to beam over to Atlantis with both Daniel and Tara.

Once Helia had nodded her head, Thor turned a few stones and teleported himself, and Daniel who was talking to an impressed Giles about the people on Argos, and Tara who was walking back with Oz who was holding onto Kelden, and Bay by his side. The Couple and Giles were surprised when both Daniel and Tara vanished in flashes of light before they ran to find Dawn. In the meantime, Daniel and Tara found themselves in the Atlantis control room standing next to each other while looking at the screen confused. Shaking their heads, the two of them saw that they were standing next to Thor and Helia who told them about the message they received from Egeria.

"Daniel," said Tara as she looked at the archaeologist who stared at the screen in surprise while looking at the voice waves on the screen, "if the Goa'uld know.. then…"

"We need to leave," said Daniel as he looked at the screen before looking at Tara, and then at Helia and Thor, "yea, we knew the Tok'ra in our own timeline. But there they were in the shadows, and Egeria died. But if she's alive.. then this timeline must have been affected in ways that we still don't know; if the Tok'ra have ships of their own and are heading to Earth, then it's time we left too."

"Captain," said Dawn's voice over the screen as a panel opened up and her face appeared with the rest of the Scoobies behind her looking on worried, "is Dr. Jackson and Tara…"

"High Counsellor," said Helia, "Commander Thor asked for permission to transport himself and Dr. Jackson, as well as Tara to Atlantis. We have received a message from a race known as the Tok'ra."

"Tok'ra?" asked Dawn.

"It's Goa'uld for 'Against Ra," said Daniel, "we knew them in our timeline, Dawn. They're allies, and they're heading for Earth because the Goa'uld are also heading there.. in fact, the message says that they already started attacking the Wraith. And while that may sound good and all, we're talking about a race that will either enslave Earth.. or destroy everything; both human and demon."

"Dear lord," said Giles.

"The Tok'ra we know use ships that'll be easily destroyed, Dawnie," said Tara, "we need to go and help, they're laying down their lives to fight both the Goa'uld and the Wraith."

"Why would they help if they are the same species as the Goa'uld?" asked Thor.

"Their philosophy is different," said Tara as she looked at Helia, Thor, and then at Dawn before talking to them about the Tok'ra, and who they were. Once Tara was done, Daniel took a step forward and said that they could became important allies for the Earth if they could back them up.

"They called us the Tau'ri," said Daniel, "which means that they know the truth about the Earth; we are the First People… the race that Ra kidnapped and seeded all over the galaxy. The race that the Goa'uld made into their slaves and their Jaffa. The Tok'ra we knew would never have done something so open, but the fact that they are doing it now led by their Queen? Something's changed. We need to go."

"Agreed," said Dawn, "Captain. Recall all our teams. We'll make do with the drones we have; the rest can be fired from the outposts once we have landed on Earth. I take it we've secured the ZPMs?"

"Yes," said Helia.

"Get someone to the chair," said Dawn as Helia nodded her head, "we'll leave once all Gateship have returned. How long would it take from Edina to Earth?"

"Ten minutes," said Thor.

"I'll order a recall," said Dawn as Helia nodded her head, "we're leaving for Earth."

**High Earth Orbit, ten minutes later.**

Fourteen Tok'ra ships shot out of hyperspace above the Antarctic and immediately activated their enhanced shields, Ancient weapons systems, and their missile pods. As they flew over the planet, they encountered the Wraith ships who were attacking the Goa'uld ships coming through hyperspace windows. Egeria was in the lead ship when she saw Apophis' mothership shoot out of a hyperspace window and begin firing on the Wraith Ships. She saw that some of the Wraith ships were taking damage from the larger mothership's staff cannons; smiling, Egeria ordered that all Tok'ra ships start attacking the Wraith.

"Get me a line to Apophis' ship," said Egeria.

"What is the meaning of this, Shol'va," said Apophis as his face showed up on the screen to the port side of the bridge, "Egeria, you dare…."

"I apologise, my lord," said Egeria as she looked at the screen while Teal'c looked on at the Queen, and then at his former master, "as Queen of the Tok'ra, I have access to a skilled army of Jaffa who would come to your aid in the battle against Anubis. All I want is my freedom to lead my own Jaffa… to work together with you as partners. This ship, in fact all of my ships are more advanced than yours my lord. With just but a word, I can break your shields open and destroy your mothership."

"You dare?" said an outraged Apophis as he stood up from his chair and glared at Egeria through the screen.

"I can," said Egeria, "but I know the danger that Anubis presents to us both… in fact, he has not arrived yet. Instead he will be leaving you to limp back to your Homeworld with the majority of your fleet destroyed; and in turn, he will have the largest fleet to dominate us all."

"Lies," said Apophis, "I have more ships that…"

"I have operatives among all the system lords that are remaining," said Egeria, "I know for a fact that they are falling in line with Anubis, and their fleets are much smaller… you, my lord, are the greatest threat to Anubis' rule. And here I am offering the services of my Tok'ra to you…. As well as the technology on my ships; at least once we have beaten these creatures. Oh, and one more thing, I will be taking Teal'c… having one of the greatest Jaffa on my side helps my cause that much more."

"We will speak once these creatures have been take care off," said Apophis as he glared at Teal'c and Egeria before the screen went dead.

"Samantha's acting is exquisite," said Egeria as she turned to Teal'c and smiled, "at least for now we don't have to worry about Apophis attacking us as well."

As Teal'c nodded his head, Egeria gave the order for all ships to attack the Wraith ships.

**Wraith Queen's chambers, five minutes later.**

Willow's head was thumping as she opened her eyes to see two Wraith standing to one side guarding a door, and a pale figure in a black dress putting her hand on Amy's chest. The redhead looked on as Amy's mouth was open in pleasure as she started to get much older, and then she screamed in pleasure when she started getting younger again before she collapsed onto the floor. Willow saw the grin that was plastered on Amy's face before she closed her eyes, and then a screen popped up on the far side of the room, and the redhead was able to see various pyramid shaped ships firing bolts of yellow energy at the Wraith ship… she could feel the ship she was in shake as it was hit by the bolts of yellow, and then red phaser-like fire from a few smaller ships that were also attacking the other Wraith vessels. She saw missiles being fired at the ship she was on, and then at the others ships.

Willow yelped when she heard the sounds of explosions, before the entire vessel she was in rocked.

"You are awake," said the pale woman as she looked over her shoulder at Willow, "the great Athena Ren."

"My name is…"

"Willow Rosenberg," said the pale woman as Willow felt her mind being violated, but the redhead wasn't able to use any magic to block the woman's mental ability, "daughter of Ira and Sheila Rosenberg of Sunnydale. Your best friend is Buffy Summers… the same Summers we will be experimenting on to determine the full scale of her abilities so that we may destroy her, and others like her."

Willow saw another screen pop up that showed Buffy lying unconscious on a table while a few Wraith were walking past her carrying tools.

"We had to shoot her once again," said the woman as she looked at the screen and then at Willow, "we are close to a solution that would weaken her, and others like her. Then we will feed after we find out what makes her what she is."

"She's mystical," said Willow, "you'll kill her and…"

"So be it, Athena," said the woman.

"I am not Athena," said Willow, "I don't know who…."

"You have encountered the one known as Hera as well," said the woman, "the one you know as Dawn Summers.. I saw it in Amy Madison's mind, and I see her in your mind as well. The two sisters of Lantea, the last two daughters of Atlantis."

"What? Atlantis?" said Willow, "look, you nutjob alien… Atlantis is a myth and…"

"To you it is," said the woman as she rushed at Willow with inhuman speed and grabbed Willow by the throat, "I am the queen of the Wraith; and show some respect to the one who will be feeding on you, and your sister… just as I was supposed to all those years ago."

"No," said Willow as the Queen released her throat, "I…."

"It matters not that you may have once ascended," said the Queen as Willow looked on shaking her head, "that is the only reason a Lantean such as yourself lasted for ten thousand years. But no matter, we will find your sister… and I will feed. The daughters of Atlantis will be no more… the remains of the Lantean civilization that you represent will be long gone and the Wraith will thrive in this galaxy."

"No!" shouted Willow as she tried to gather as much magic as possible, "no! Buffy will wake up and kill you… and then.. then I'll kill you and…"

"Such fire," said the Queen, "it spices a meal, Athena."

"Don't call me that!" shouted Willow.

"Scream, Athena," said the Queen, "you once wanted to cure the Wraith.. and now you want to destroy us. What a change, humanity has changed you. But do not worry, this time… I will ensure that you die in front of Hera… just as she died in front of you."

"NO," said Willow shaking her head as she remembered what Dawn said before she left to find help, "no… I'm not…"

"You are…."

The entire chamber then shook hard before the queen could finish what she wanted to say. The Wraith Queen then looked at the screen again and saw that two of the cruisers were destroyed by massive explosions. Unknown to the Queen, the Tok'ra ships had been using their rail guns to take out the darts that were coming towards them, while firing their Ancient weapons and the naquada missiles and naquadria nukes at the hanger bays. With most of the missiles destroyed by the darts… a few hit the hull of various Wraith ships with two nuclear weapons hitting the hanger bays of two Wraith cruisers, essentially destroying them from the inside. Willow looked on a larger ship continued to fire the yellow bolts of energy at one of the larger Wraith ships.. she noticed that the firepower was being concentrated on one section of the ship; and then that ship exploded after missiles were fired from the smaller ships.

'Three down,' thought Willow to herself as the queen gave orders for the larger Wraith ships to concentrate their fire on the remaining large pyramid ship, while the rest of the Wraith cruisers were ordered to destroy the smaller ones.

"I want all darts to cover the hanger bays," said the Queen, "stop any weapon from entering."

"Looks like you're getting screwed," said Willow as she glared at the Queen who was looking back at her with a smirk on her face. A smirk that vanished when there was an alarm that rang through the chambers before she looked at another screen that showed an object flying through Hyperspace, and the readings on the screen made the Queen scream out into the air. She then looked at Willow with a wide grin on her face.

Willow looked at the screen behind the queen that showed the massive space battle that was ongoing when she saw a greenish cloud appear, the same type of cloud she saw before she was knocked out earlier, and then an object flew out that was covered in an orange dome. She saw that every Wraith ship started to fire on it, while leaving the other two ships behind it alone before they went alongside the object; aa ship that had several towers. She then saw the ships starting to fire weapons. One of the ships started firing bursts of red energy weapons and yellow coloured lights that headed towards a few of the larger Wraith ships, leading to a few explosions on their hulls, while the other ship fired purple bolts of energy at the Wraith ships.

It was then that a familiar voice came through to the Queen's chamber.

"This is Hera Ren, High Councillor of the Lantean city-ship, Atlantis," said Dawn's voice as Willow looked on surprised, "this message is to all Wraith ships in the orbit of Earth. I am not here to demand your surrender; I am not here to negotiate peace. Attack this city with all you have, this ends today. All of you will end, today!"

"Hera Ren," said the Queen as she looked at Willow, "I am Queen Reola of the Wraith, I demand your surrender. Surrender the city, and yourself to the Wraith… or else your sister, Athena, will die."

"You lie," said Dawn's voice as she looked at Giles, and then at Tara in worry. It was then she heard Willow scream over the speakers in Stargate Operations on Atlantis. She put the communication system on mute just as Daniel rushed into the Operations room with his eyes wide open and asked Dawn if he could send a message to the Tok'ra, that it was urgent.

Daniel came in just as Dawn was leaving a response to the Wraith Queen.

"Willow," said Dawn, "I am coming for you… we are coming. And Queen Reola of the Wraith, I will not surrender."

"Then you will watch your two sisters die when I take you by force," said the Queen before all communications were cut.

"Daniel," said Tara, "the Wraith have Willow and Buffy."

"Where?" asked Daniel panting, "Tara, Dawn? Where?"

"The Queen's ship," said Dawn as Oz, Giles, and Xander looked on in worry, "I.. she asked for me to surrender and…"

"You can't" said Giles, "they'll kill you and…. And did they just call Willow your sister?"

"Later," said Spike, "Dawn, you can't…."

"I have an idea," said Daniel as he pointed at Tara, "Tara, go out to the balcony and tell me what you see."

Tara looked at Daniel with confusion on her face while he gently pushed Tara towards the balcony before Daniel turned to face Dawn.

Just as Tara ran out to the balcony, one of the Lanteans turned around to Dawn and told her that they were getting a message from the Tok'ra flagship, but it was audio only since some of their equipment have been damaged thanks to the Wraith weapons blasts.

"Put them through, and fire our drones… avoid the ship that sent that message earlier…. And get me a plan ready to board that ship," said Dawn as Wraith weapons fire hit the Atlantis shields while the city-ship then opened fire at some of the Wraith hive ships and cruisers. The yellow drones just impacted the thick Wraith armour before exploding on the hull. The more the drones hit, the more damaged the hulls became until the hulls failed and drones went inside the ships and ripped four ships, three hive-ships and one cruiser apart. Unknown to the Wraith, and even more Goa'uld ships that were coming in to battle the Wraith, the Tok'ra Tel'tak piloted by Selmak had already brought three of the ZPM's that were floating in space to the Tok'ra vessels.

"Oh my God!" shouted Tara as she ran back into the operations room, everyone looking at the blonde witch as she ran to Daniel and grabbed his shoulders, "everyone died, Daniel…. We saw their bodies and…"

"Not hers," said Daniel with tears in his eyes, "we thought that she was blown to pieces and they hung her uniform as a symbol… but… but…."

"Oh goddess," said Tara as she brought both hands to her mouth as tears gathered in her eyes.

"Dr. Jackson? Tara?" asked Dawn.

It was then that a gravelly voice came through the speakers, a woman's voice.

"This is Egeria, Queen of the Tok'ra calling High Councillor Hera Ren of Atlantis, we have intercepted your communications with the Wraith Queen and we are offering our assistance in rescuing your two sisters."

"Queen Egeria," said Dawn who was about to ask her why she would want to help search for complete strangers when she felt Daniel place his hand on her shoulder. Dawn then looked at the tears in both of his eyes, and then at the tears in Tara's eye before she whispered to the both of them, "what's going on?"

"Dawnie," said Tara as her voice broke, "please, let us respond? We… we need to be sure."

"Of what?" whispered Dawn.

"High Councillor?" asked Egeria as Dawn, Giles, Spike, Oz, and Xander looked at the time displaced people.

Unsure of what was going on, Dawn nodded her head, signalling to Daniel to go ahead.

"Queen Egeria of the Tok'ra," said Daniel as his heart beat faster in his chest while he held Tara's hand, "my name is Dr. Daniel Jackson of the Tau'ri. Identification code, Jackson Sierra Gulf One Four-Four-Nine-One."

"This is Tara Maclay-Rosenberg," said Tara as her voice broke slightly, "Identification code, Maclay Sierra Gulf One Five-Nine-Six-One. Sam? Is that you?"

Everyone looked at the screen in the Atlantis control room that was showing symbols flowing on one corner while the Wraith ships outside were being attacked in space from all sides; from the Tria, the Goa'uld ships, the Belisknir, and Atlantis. Tara and Daniel had watched the Tok'ra vessels, the same vessels that both Tara and Daniel knew to be similar in design to the Daedalus class from their own timeline, continued their attacks on the Wraith vessels. It was after a few seconds of quiet that a face appeared on their screen; however, the picture was fuzzy. They could see the outline of a woman who was ordering the Tok'ra on the bridge to get the visual sensors back online.

"This… this is.. oh God," said Colonel Carter when she first heard Daniel's voice. Once she had heard the familiar voice of Tara through their on-board speakers, both Egeria and the Colonel were in shock while the Tok'ra on the bridge had all stopped moving and just looked on. They saw their queen bring her hands to her mouth before she hurriedly got off her chair and then ran to the console behind the command chair and pressed a few buttons. A three dimensional screen then popped up while she shouted at the Tok'ra to get the sensors repaired, that she needed to make sure she was speaking to who she thought she was speaking to. It was soon, through a fuzzy screen, that she saw faces looking back at her; but the only faces that mattered to her were the two whose eyes were watery as they looked back at her, "this… this is Lt. Colonel Samantha Carter of.. of the… the Tok'ra vessel, the O'Neill. Iden… Identification code Carter Sierra Gulf One Two-two-four-nine."

"Sam," said Daniel, "how? I…."

"Who are you?" asked Dawn as she looked at the Colonel, and then at Daniel and Tara.

"She's the commander of SG-1," said Tara as she looked at Dawn, "from my timeline."

"Sam," continued Tara wiping her eyes, "I… I can't…"

"Sam," said Daniel as he took in a deep breath, "Oh God, it's you… I…"

"Daniel, Tara," said the Colonel as she wiped her tears, "I'm.. I don't know what to say. I thought you were dead, Ra told me you died."

"Ummmm…" said Dawn as she raised her hand.

"Right," said the Colonel shaking her head before wiping her eyes, "Hera, I know you're Dawn… I'm sure Daniel and Tara told you about the timeline we come from. Many things have changed, but one thing hasn't… we won't let Earth fall. My sensors are showing me where the Queen's communication came from, I have an idea to get on that ship. Daniel, Tara? Feel up to taking a trip to the nearest planet with a Stargate?"

"What are you planning?" asked Giles.

"Why is there a boy in board?" asked the Colonel confused.

"It's Dr. Giles," said Daniel as Colonel Carter's eyes went wide, "long story, Sam."

"Okay," said the Colonel shaking her head, "I was thinking about getting to another nearby gated planet, and then using the Stargate to get onto the Queen's ship."

"Of course," said Dawn as she slapped her forehead, "that's basic Wraith procedure, they want to prevent anyone from dialing out from the surface; so they brought a Stargate from Pegasus to the Milky Way. The Wraith Queens are very… let's say trendy, she'll want the Stargate in her possession."

"Which means that Atlantis will have to leave Earth orbit, Dawn," said the Colonel as she looked up from the screen and asked her people to find the nearest planet that had a Stargate, and then she looked at her screen again, "if Atlantis is here, then the wormhole may not connect to the Wraith ship since both are from Pegasus."

"We've found a lifeless rock five minutes from here," said Colonel Carter after she looked to her left and nodded her head, and then looked at the screen once again, "I suggest we go there.. Daniel, Tara? Feel up to a rescue mission?"

"Oh yeah," said Daniel chuckling while wiping his eyes, "like the old days?"

"I'm in," said Tara before Spike, Oz, Xander, and then Giles put their hands up… as did Dawn.

"I'm going," said Dawn, "no one…"

"Dawnie," said Tara, "you need to be here."

"But…" said Dawn, "Willow's out there… so's Buffy and…"

"You are the leader of your people," said Tara as she held on to Dawn's shoulders, "if anything happens to Helia while you're out with us, who'll lead the Lanteans? Right now, you are the leader of the Lanteans, Dawnie, you belong here… on Atlantis."

"We'll get Willow and Buffy back," said Tara, "I…"

"I'm going," said Dawn as she looked at Tara with determination in her eyes before she turned to the other Lanteans and asked them to transfer her to the Tria and the Belisknir.

Two more panels appeared on the screen that was showing both Helia, and Thor's faces. Dawn then introduced the both of them to Egeria, who had taken over from Colonel Carter. Egeria than relayed the Colonel's plan before telling them that while Atlantis would be traveling through the Hyperspace tunnel back to Earth, the rescue team will already be on the Wraith ship. Dawn then told Helia, who disagreed with Dawn about her leaving for the Queen's ship, that she was to take control of Atlantis once she returned to Earth orbit.

"I want the city to land, and then connect to the outposts in Death Valley and the Antarctic," said Dawn as she highlighted the two sites on the screen, "I want the other ships destroyed, just leave the Queen's vessel alone. But if we do not contact you in twenty minutes after Atlantis has returned to Earth orbit, fire on the Queens vessel."

"High Councillor," said Helia, "that is…"

"The right thing to do," said Dawn, "anything happens to me Captain, you're in control of this city. Blow up the bastards if you don't hear from us."

"Understood," said Helia as the Tria continued to fire while the ZPM enhanced shields absorbed the firepower from the weapons.

"Supreme Commander Thor," said Egeria, "my host has many things she hopes to speak with you about, but that can be done at a later date."

"Agreed, Queen Egeria," said Thor.

"Be careful," said Dawn as Helia nodded her head before her image, and Thor's vanished… their lines disconnected. Dawn then ordered a communication connection to the Queen's ship, and when the Lantean to Dawn's left nodded her head.. the brunette spoke loud and clear.

"Wraith Queen Reola," said Dawn as she hands rolled into fists, "if Willow and Buffy are hurt, then I will kill you very slowly. If they're not hurt, then you'll die fast. Either way… I will kill you for daring to come to this world."

"I will feed on you, Hera," said the Wraith Queen's calm voice, "I will capture you and then feed on Athena in front of you, just as you were killed in front of her. And if my experiments on your other sister fails, then you will watch both of them die… you will watch the rest of your forsaken race die in front of your eyes."

"This ends today. Willow, Buffy… if you can hear me… I am coming for the both of you," said Dawn before she looked up at Egeria who was looking back at her, "let's go."

TBC.

 


	13. Chapter 13

**Ten Minutes later.**

Two hyperspace windows opened up over a small green planet and out raced the O'Neill and Atlantis side by side. Once they had established orbit over the planet, Egeria asked that Daniel, Tara, and whoever else was going to join them take a Jumper to the O'Neill and park in the port hanger deck. Once that was done Atlantis could then go back into Hyperspace without wasting any time for the ten-minute journey back to Earth. In the Atlantis jumper bay, Dawn was already ready with a plasma pistol on her hip as she headed into the vessel followed by Daniel, Spike, Tara, Oz, and Xander. Two Lanteans were outside the Jumper with Giles who Dawn had earlier said would not be able to join them.

"It's too dangerous," said Dawn as she looked at Giles when some Lanteans met her and the others with weapons, and a green crystal for Dawn, at the Jumper Bay, "stay on Atlantis, Giles. The shield will hold as long as there is power in the ZPM's. It's the most powerful piece of technology we have… and when the city lands on Earth, I need you to magically connect with Vi and Sophie, then with Kennedy, Faith, and Angel. Tell them we're going to get Buffy and Willow back… and save who we can."

"Don't tell them about me, Mr. Giles," said Tara, "let's just leave that a surprise."

"Very well," said Giles reluctantly as Dawn headed to the control chair in the cockpit, "be careful, all of you."

"We will," said Oz as he nodded his head at Giles. The boy then stepped back as the ramp came up slowly before it closed the entrance, and then the ship rose into the air before heading up the central column to the hatch that had just opened. Giles looked up and saw the orange dome that kept the atmosphere in Atlantis, the very thing that was keeping them alive in deep space. He saw the hatch close before he sighed and then turned around to face the other Lanteans who asked him to follow them back to Stargate Operations.

"So you really are a seventy-year-old man in a child's body?" asked one of the Lanteans as they walked out of the Jumper bay and into the adjacent hallway.

"No, I was not seventy," said Giles dryly as he fixed his glasses, "I was sixty."

While the three of them were walking towards Stargate Operations, the Jumper was being flown by Dawn to the Port hanger bay of the O'Neill. It was when they were on final approach that Tara and Daniel stood behind Xander and Dawn, while Oz stood right next to them.

"So you guys had ships like this?" asked Xander as she looked at the time displaced couple.

"Yeah, we went on the maiden flight of the Daedalus," said Tara as the Jumper entered the hanger bay where they saw smaller ships parked on either side. The ships looked more like the tips of arrows than the shapes the F-302's Daniel and Tara were familiar with, while the blonde witch continued speaking, "it was the day before we were supposed to head out for Ancient Egypt."

"So Willow was there too?" asked Oz.

"And Buffy?" asked Dawn.

"Yeah," said Tara as Dawn landed the small ship, and then a screen popped up saying that the hanger bay was pressurised, and that they had life support.

Tara and Daniel were the first to walk to the rear of the ship, and pressed the button to open the ramp just as Dawn said that Atlantis had entered hyperspace. With Daniel and Tara stepping onto the deck, they walked forward as Dawn and the others got off the jumper just as a door opened on the left side of the hanger bay. Tara put her hands to her mouth before she ran towards Colonel Carter who was smiling as she walked towards Tara, and then she opened up her arms before hugging the blonde witch tightly in her arms.

"We thought you were gone, Sam," said Tara as she whispered into the Colonel's ear. Colonel Carter nodded her head as she held Tara tightly, afraid that this was just a dream… but the fear faded when she looked at Daniel through tear stained eyes standing behind Tara. Colonel Carter held out one arm as Daniel walked in, and the woman hugged her two teammates, and friends together.

"You're here, Sam," said Daniel as the Colonel closed her eyes and nodded her head before she pulled back, and then she looked over her shoulders at the Jaffa who was standing stoically at the entrance.

"Oh my God," said Tara as she ran towards the Jaffa, "Teal'c?"

"Greetings," said Teal'c as Daniel joined Tara in talking to the Jaffa while Colonel Carter, and then Egeria, introduced themselves before saying that the O'Neill was heading to the surface of the planet.

"Captains Willow Rosenberg and Buffy Summers have already introduced all of you to Samantha in her timeline," said Egeria as they walked towards Daniel, Tara, and Teal'c, "it is a pleasure meeting all of you again."

"So there are two of you?" asked Spike as he sniffed the air and noticed the two distinct smells, "in one body?"

"I am the Tok'ra Queen," said Egeria before closing her eyes and then transferring control to Colonel Carter, "and I'm Colonel Carter as you know. The both of us are sharing the same body, and we have access to each other's knowledge and abilities. Egeria's given me long life, and her strength, and her ability to heal… the same with other symbiotes. Hers is a bit stronger due to her being a queen."

"Colonel Carter," said Teal'c as Daniel and Tara looked at the blonde, "it is time we left."

"Come on," said the Colonel, "we need to head to the ring room; but first, I need all of you armoured up."

"We already have weapons, Colonel," said Dawn as the group followed them through the hallways of the ship as they felt the bumpiness from atmospheric entry.

"You do," said the Colonel, "but you still need protection from the Wraith stun blasts. I was there when Willow briefed the Atlantis Expedition before they left, she told us what the Wraith were capable of… and we have something to neutralise those effects, I mean what we have is useful for any energy and kinetic based, weapon. I know Spike won't need it since he has no life force and he's already dead. Their weapons won't affect him…. But if you, Dawn, and Oz and Xander want to fight them.. then you need something that Willow and I were working on, and nearly finished, before we left for Ancient Egypt."

"You did it?" asked Daniel as he looked at the Colonel in surprise, "you finally did it?".

"We only just started to mass produce it using some Tollan technology," said Colonel Carter as she looked at the surprise on Daniel and Tara's faces while the others followed them into a room that had several pieces of black armour hanging against the walls, as well as thin, white, shirts and long pants that seemed to have gold accents on the surface, "the Tok'ra are now slightly above the Goa'uld in terms of tech… all thanks to tech we acquired using our spies from Anubis. And what we gained from both my, and Egeria's knowledge. So the Tollan were willing to help us since…"

"The Tok'ra are not a primitive race," said Tara as the Colonel nodded her head.

"Plus they owed the Tok'ra," said Colonel Carter, "we told them about the advancements that Anubis made to the Goa'uld shields and weapons using his ascended knowledge, we even gave them proof. And they helped us by letting us use a few colony worlds to build our ships, and weapons."

"This is the lady's locker room," continued the Colonel as she motioned around the room they were in, "the men's locker is next door. Anyone going to the Wraith flagship will put on this modified armour… it'll disperse the energy from the stun weapons before channelling it into naquada based capacitors on the back, and on the shoulders. All of that is connected to plasma repeaters on the wrist… think machine guns except it fires hot plasma bolts. The white undershirts will absorb the heat generated from the weapons fire absorption and the heat will be channel into naquada contacts inside the armour that'll charge the weapons too. Spike, you'll be getting one of the Zats that come with the armour."

"Zat?" asked Spike.

"Stun weapon," said Tara, "one shot stuns, two shots kill. Think of it as kind of a tazer."

"You went all out," said Dawn as she looked at the armour and the accompanying Zat on the left holster, and another weapon attached to its back, and then back at Colonel Carter who was looking at Tara, and then at Daniel. It was then that Dawn realized the look on Tara's face was different,, she was far more confident than the Tara she had known… Dawn could see that she wasn't afraid, she could see that the blonde witch was now with her family.

The three of them were a family.

"The absorption was Willow's discovery," said Colonel Carter as Tara gave a small smile. The Colonel then turned to Teal'c and told him to send word to Master Bra'tac that they'll be ready in five minutes.

"Yes, Colonel Carter," said Teal'c as he went to a panel outside the room, and Daniel, Oz, and Spike went to the men's room, while Colonel Carter closed the door and started to take off her dress, as did Tara, while Dawn looked away nervously as the two grown women put on the white undershirts and the long pants.

"Dawnie?" asked Tara as she looked over her shoulder at the Brunette whose back was facing them, "you're not putting on the armour? I thought…"

"I have this," said Dawn as she took out the green crystal that she immediately put into her pocket after being handed it back in Atlantis "it's a personal force field."

"Neat," said Colonel Carter excitedly.

"Sam?" asked Tara as she started to put on the armour, "you said Bra'tac's here?"

"Who's that?" asked Dawn as she turned around to see the Colonel and Tara putting on the bottom part of the armour.

"Teal'c's, mentor," said Tara as Dawn nodded her head before looking at the Colonel, "so he's here?"

"Just before Apophis' ship exploded," said Colonel Carter as she put on the top half of the armour, "Apophis and a few of his Jaffa ringed onto the ship… and before you ask why? I may have told him we were on his side. So we've kept him, and the four Jaffa out of ten, in our prison. Bra'tac and the others were just as they were in our timeline."

"What are you going to do with him?" asked Dawn.

"The Tok'ra have a way of extracting the symbiote without killing the host," said Colonel Carter, "once this is over, the extraction ceremony will be broadcast to Chulak….Teal'c will speak about the true nature of the Goa'uld, and the Jaffa rebellion will be on its way. If the President wants, the Tok'ra can give basic help in setting up a new SGC here… I can give them the designs for a new dialling computer, but other than that.. I don't know…"

"We'll talk about that later," said Tara as she looked at the Colonel before hugging her again while Dawn just looked on, "I still can't believe it, Sam. You're alive."

"For a while there I wasn't," replied the Colonel as Dawn just starred what the blonde officer must have gone through, "for a while there I wasn't, but we've got time to talk later. Now? We do what we've always done."

"We save the world?" said Tara as she smirked.

"We save everyone," said Dawn.

"Everyone it is then," Colonel Carter, "let's go."

On the way to the ring room, the Colonel told Xander and Oz how the radio on the shoulder bump on the left side was accessed, before going onto the showing them how the weapons control on the armour worked. She said that it'll absorb their energy weapons which would be used to charge the capacitors, and then they can fire the repeaters.

"In the meantime," said the Colonel as she entered the ring room followed by the others, "just let them hit you, while you hit back with the Zat; all you do is press the bottom section."

"Or this fancy thingamajig?" asked Spike as he held up a rifle-like weapon that looked like something out of Star Trek, "it's the same thing on your backs."

"Plasma rifle," said the Colonel as Spike looked at the device impressed, "just don't fire it at yourself. You'll turn to dust in three shots."

"I'd like to see that," said Xander with a smirk.

"Guys," said Dawn as she looked at Spike, Oz, and Xander, "we get Buffy and Willow, and whoever else we can save."

"We'll save who we can," said Colonel Carter, "once Buffy and Willow are off that ship, we need to leave and have the Wraith destroyed. We have a bigger problem on the way."

"What's bigger than the Wraith?" asked Dawn.

"Anubis," said the Colonel as Daniel and Tara looked at each other concerned, "he intercepted the message you sent out using the Alliance frequency."

"Oh no," said Dawn shaking her head as Teal'c walked in wearing his own armour, and carrying a black case.

"If you hadn't called," said the Colonel, "then the Asgard, and us, wouldn't be here."

"Now come," said Egeria after the Colonel ceded control, "we must leave."

**The Queen's Hive Ship, Earth Orbit, one minute before arrival of Atlantis.**

Ten masked Wraith were pointing their weapons at the event horizon of the Stargate. A wormhole hole had just opened up, the second this day, and this time they were ready. The Queen had already told them the need for the Stargate in their midst, the message they received from the other reality claimed that the humans of Earth already had an organization called Stargate Command. So the Stargate that the Queen brought from Pegasus meant that the Earth Stargate couldn't dial out.

Stargate Command was trapped.

As the masked Wraith surrounded the open Stargate, they looked at each other, and then back at the four large, circular devices that rolled through the event horizon. One of them picked up a device just as it gave off a massive sonic wave coupled with an electrical charge that incapacitated all of the Wraith. A few seconds later, six armoured individuals, Spike. and Dawn wearing her personal force shield while holding up a Lantean plasma weapon walked into what was the Wraith ship's Gateroom, and walked over the bodies of the Wraith.

"Egeria?" asked Tara as she glanced at Egeria, "could you dial the Stargate to Gaia?"

"Why Gaia?" asked Egeria.

"I don't sense Earth's magic up here," said Tara as she looked at Egeria, "but I have tuned myself to Gaia's magic, and if energy travels both ways through an open wormhole..."

"Then it would be the same for mystical energy," Egeria nodding her head, "I will have to recalibrate the Stargate for dialling out in this galaxy, but I would require five minutes."

"You have it," said Dawn as she pulled up her weapon, and it was then she noticed a Wraith computer console. She then looked back over the Colonel who was kneeling next to the DHD, "I think I know a way to find Willow and Buffy."

"Teal'c," said Egeria as she looked at the armoured Jaffa who was holding onto a staff weapon, "cover Miss Summers; Dr. Jackson, please stay with MR. Harris; Dr. Maclay-Rosenberg, please stay with Oz, and Spike… cover me."

"Right," said Spike as Dawn went to the console on the port side with Teal'c. And it was a few seconds later that the firefight started. The stun blasts were absorbed by the armour while plasma burst were being fired from wrists, mowing down the Wraith that had come into the room. Then even more came while Tara looked over her shoulder while continuing to fire and asking how the recalibration was going,

"It is going adequately," said Egeria calmly.

"Better speed it up," said Spike as a few blasts hit him, but all that happened was that he took a step back from the force of the blast, but he was still conscious and firing the plasma rifle, "oh I am going to keep this. Mind you, I'm all for the fight… but sometime a good futuristic blaster is the way to go."

It was four minutes of firing weapons later that Egeria started to dial the Stargate to Gaia, and then once it activated, she started to fire her repeaters at the oncoming Wraith. She saw that they were coming from three corridors on the Starboard, port, and the central corridors. Everyone continued to fire their weapons while Tara smiled and put her plasma rifle on her back and lifted her arms to the side and concentrated.

"Magic bomb?" asked Daniel.

"Yes," said Egeria as she and the others continued firing.

"I know where they… are… whoa," said Dawn as she looked back and saw two balls of blue light gathered on the palms of Tara's hands, "Tara?"

"Fire in the hole!" shouted Tara as she threw one ball into the port hallway, and another one into the Starboard hallway, "get down! Close your eyes! Spike, get as far back as you can! Move!"

Spike ran to the far corner of the room behind the Stargate and closed his eyes while everyone got down, with Teal'c pushing Dawn down, just as the balls hit the floor and then released a brilliant blue light that blinded all the Wraith, followed by a massive explosion of blue fire that decimated the Wraith that were still coming down the hallways. The fire tearing through the hallways that were made of organic materials as it burned screaming Wraith to a crisp.

Everyone slowly got up as they witnessed the destruction in front of them while Tara panted and then raised her arm and got ready to fire her repeaters.

"That's new," said Dawn with her eyes wide open.

"Dawn?" asked Xander, "Willow, and Buffy?"

"I know where they are," said Dawn shaking her head, "I can tell you where they are, but I get first crack at the Keeper. She's with the Queen in her chamber.. that's where Willow is and… and Amy? She's here too? Anyway, the Keeper killed me the first time, and I think I wanna return the favour."

"I'll go with you," said Egeria with a smirk before looking at Tara, "Dr. Maclay, I would need you to go with Dr. Jackson to retrieve Miss Summers, and then free as many people as you can, and get them here. Atlantis will be here in a few seconds, and we will have the distraction to our benefit… and…"

"I checked the pods for any signs of life," said Dawn as she shook her head, "I guess once the attack started, they haven't really gotten more food, at least for this ship. The only humans alive are us, Amy, Buffy and Willow."

"Then we retrieve them, and we leave this place," said Egeria "Teal'c, Oz, and Mr. Harris, the Stargate will remain connected to Gaia. Prevent any Wraith from going through that Stargate. No of them must leave this ship."

"Understood, my queen," said Teal'c as he activated his staff weapon.

"Move out," said Dawn as she raised her weapon.

**Queen's Chamber's, Hiveship, high orbit around Earth.**

"Look's like we're fighting back," said Willow as she glared at the two Wraith, and one human being who were looking out at the ongoing battle just as an alarm went off in the chambers, and the ship shook. It was then that Willow opened her eyes wide and looked directly at Amy, who had the same expression on her face as well. Willow could feel magic caressing her skin, but it wasn't the magic that she was familiar with, It wasn't the magic that she knew belonged to Earth.

This was different, this was alien.

"I can feel the magic growing in this ship, my queen," said Amy as the queen looked at her, and then at Willow, as did Amy, "I can get rid of her right now using this power.. I mean it would take some time to get used to it. But I can take her on."

"Just try it, traitor," said Willow as she tried to mould the strange magic, but she was having trouble getting a feel for it. She tried to gather magic, but it fizzled out. Willow could feel it, but she knew she need some time.. time she didn't have.

"Ah," said the Queen as she walked to Willow with a smile on her face, "my Wraith have contacted me, Hera has come.. she has come with allies."

"Dawn," smiled Willow, "I told you I never lost faith in her, she does what she says she's gonna do… and now…"

"Now I will feed," said the Queen before she turned to look at the Keeper, "bring Hera here alive. Kill everyone else."

"My queen," said Amy as she shook her head confused, "they have a magic user with them… but I don't recognize the magics the person is using."

"Go with the Keeper," said the Queen, "kill whoever it is, bring Hera to me. Now go!"

Willow glared at Amy as she left the room before looking at the smiling Queen. The alarm in the room went off again as Willow and the Queen looked out the window at a Hyperspace window opening, and then the same orange domed city Willow had seen before shot out and headed towards Earth.

"Atlantis," said the Queen as she looked at the city, "how is it that Hera is here and… oh, somehow she has found more Lanteans. Your people are like insects that never die, Athena."

"Dawn's coming for me and Buffy," said Willow as she tried to gather magic for the next ten minutes; she felt as if she was an engine that needed to be turned multiple times before starting, and the alien magic was the diesel to Earth's gas. She gathered and released the magical energy repeatedly until she could get a hang of it. It was then she felt the ship shake again, and another magical ripple that went throughout the ship. This time it was closer, unlike the first one she felt just a few seconds ago. But there was something underneath, underneath the alien magic.. she narrowed her eyes and shook her head while believing that she was imagining things. She felt the power signature underneath the alien magic, it was something that could never change with any witch… and this signature she felt it before.

'It's not possible,' though Willow to herself, 'the only person I know who has this signature is… is Tara. But.. no.. it's just my imagination and… and there's no way that… oh God.'

"Oh God," said Willow as four columns of Yellow light, drones from four out of the seven silos at the Death Valley outpost, flew up from the planet's surface and was shredding the Wraith vessels apart. Willow heard the Wraith Queen scream while she watched some explosions on the hulls of the ships just before they were ripped apart. What was happening was that the first few hundred drones were destroyed once they hit the thick hull, but before it could regenerate, the rest of the drones would shred through the already damaged hulls… they would go in one way, and out the other before coming about and then doing the same thing over and over again. The Queen and Willow saw one ship destroyed after another as the smaller grey coloured vessels belonging to the Tok'ra got out of the line of fire.

Not that they had to worry, especially since the drones just flew around them. All Willow could do was watch in amazement as the yellow light destroyed numerous ships, while leaving the only two others, minus the queen's ship, damaged. It was then that the smaller ships, the Belisknir, and the Tria started to open fire at the damaged vessels. Unknown to anyone at the time, a control crystal that connected Atlantis to the outposts had blown, and it would take the Lanteans in the city twenty minutes to create a new crystal.

While watching the ongoing battle, Willow heard an electronic sound followed by a deathly scream from outside as the Keeper flew into the Queen's chamber, pushed by a white light. And then she heard a familiar voice.

"You killed me in front of my sister and you think I'll let it happen again?!" screamed Dawn as she walked in and brought up her weapon and fired a white burst of plasma at the Keeper while the Queen brought her hand up just as a blonde in black armour walked in; the blonde brought up one hand that had gold ribbon wrapped around her forearm that led to a red crystal in the palm of her hand. Willow saw the crystal glow just before an energy wave pushed the Queen to the other side of the chamber.

"Willow," said Dawn as she ran to the pod when Willow felt that familiar burst of magic again. She shook her head in confusion as the pod opened and she stumbled out into Dawn's arms, and then gave her a hug.

"We need to talk, Willow," said Dawna as she looked into Willow's eyes, "there's a lot we need to talk about."

"Am I really..?"

The ship shook again as Daniel's voice came through the radio saying that they retrieved Buffy and were heading to the Stargate. It was then that, while Willow was feeling that something was off from the blonde, Teal'c's voice came through the radio saying that Wraith were shooting at them while trying to get at the Stargate.

"We must…" said Egeria in her gravelly voice when she looked to her left and stepped back while pulling up one hand which had the plasma repeater, and the other hand which had the ribbon device, the same ribbon device she had on ever since she left the O'Neill; while Dawn raised her plasma weapon as the Keeper tried to stand up. Willow continued to try and mould her magic, and she knew that she was almost there in terms of control, at least she thought she did.

"The great Hera," said the Keeper looking at Dawn as everyone looked at the Keeper, and then at Dawn, "your people are supposed to be merciful, so… so I beg for your mercy. I sense no life in the Queen, and as you are well aware.. if the queen is dead, then the entire hive falls into disarray. I will take control and will leave Earth orbit… we will return to Pegasus and…"

"No," said Dawn as she shot the Keepers head, and then Willow saw the blonde fire another blast into the Keeper, followed by a sickening crack that indicated that the Keepers bones were broken.

"Dawnie," said Willow with her eyes wide open, "what did…"

"They cannot live, Miss Rosenberg," said Egeria before she closed her eyes and returned control to Colonel Carter, "hello, Willow, I'm Lt. Colonel Sam Carter…"

"That's why you seem familiar," said the redhead, "the astronaut."

"Long story," said Dawn and the Colonel together before she turned to Dawn and asked her to tell Atlantis to take the queen's ship down. The Colonel then told Willow about who, and what she was, leaving the redhead slack jawed as Egeria introduced herself.

"We have a problem," said Dawn as she looked back over her shoulder, "Atlantis has a power crystal issue.. the drones wont fire for another ten minutes until it's fixed."

"This is Egeria to the Daniel Jackson," said the Tok'ra, "fire all naquada missiles at this ship. Lock on to my location, and fire. Make sure this ship is destroyed, I will leave through the Stargate to another world. Lantesh, ensure that the Stargate on the queen's vessel is taken away from here. We would like to return to Atlantis… not walk out into space."

"Yes, my queen," said Lantesh.

"Everyone move," said Egeria as she took point before she picked up Amy without a problem and put her over her shoulder, "Hera, I suggest you take point."

Willow ran between them as the ship started to shake. She saw Dawn and Egeria continue to fire as she finally managed to mould the alien magic. Willow fired of a green coloured blast that knocked out a Wraith coming towards them while Egeria fired the repeaters, and Dawn fired the plasma weapon.

"Sam," shouted Daniel's voice, "the Gateroom's clear… where are you?"

"Five minutes away," shouted Egeria as they continued on while firing. It took them five minutes before they were closer to the Gateroom where they ducked as a Wraith flew over them. It was then that Dawn smiled at Buffy who swung at a few Wraith who decided to make their way to the Gateroom in a last ditch effort to leave the ship.

"Tara! Magic Bombs!" shouted the Colonel as she took over, it was a name that made Willow turn to the woman who responded on the other side of the room. She saw a short blonde haired woman, she saw Tara… a slightly older Tara, but it was Tara. Willow then felt someone grabbing her while she reached for the blonde who was forming two balls of energy in her hand.

"Tara!" shouted Willow as the blonde looked back at her and smiled before turning back around and stepping back as more Wraith were coming towards them.

"Run!" shouted Egeria as she pushed Willow through the Stargate, after which Spike pushed Buffy and Dawn through, and then everyone else turned and headed through the event horizon as Tara dropped the bombs before she jumped through the Stargate. There was a massive explosion that decimated the remaining Wraith in the Gateroom. And in space, two Tok'ra vessels fired their remaining Naquada missiles, and four naquadria nuclear weapons in total at the damaged areas of the ship that was still regenerating, and at the hanger bays. The two ships broke off just as a massive explosion destroyed the Queen's vessel, leaving only a few more whose hyperdrive systems were taken out so that they couldn't escape.

There would be no Wraith prisoners taken this day.

The remaining Tok'ra, the Belisknir, and the Tria destroyed the remaining ships since they were already damaged and since they were in the process of regenerating, it made it that much easier to destroy them using their energy weapons.

The Wraith were defeated.

But before anyone could celebrate, Bra'tac, Jolinar, and Lantesh contacted Atlantis, the Tria, and the Belisknir with a message that the fight for Earth wasn't over yet.

Anubis was on the way.

TBC.


	14. Chapter 14

**Gaia, seconds later.**

Once Tara stepped through the Stargate, it was Daniel who looked at Tara and shouted 'Iris!'. Not needing to be told twice, Tara turned and put up her hands in one swift move as she connected herself to Gaia's magic. She then raised a shield that covered the event horizon as long as the Stargate was active. It was a few seconds later that there were several bumps in the shield that indicated to her that some Wraith may have survived her bombs, and then had tried to get through the Stargate; her mystical shield preventing them from being assembled on the other side. When the Stargate deactivated, Tara put down the shield while she panted when she heard footsteps behind her, and then an arm around her shoulder.

"Good job," said Daniel as they turned around and walked down the Stargate's pedestal. She watched Dawn hugging both Willow and Buffy, their backs to the blonde witch. Tara smiled at Dawn who had her eyes closed and was hugging them tight. Tara then looked at a grinning Spike who was looking up at the sun, and holding his hands up by his sides while he closed his eyes and enjoyed the warmth.

"Tara," said Colonel Carter as she rushed to the witch with Teal'c by her side, "you alright?"

"Yeah," said Tara as the both of them hugged, they wanted to enjoy this one moment of peace before they had to go back to Earth and face Anubis' fleet. In the meantime, the three former members of SG-1 had a quick discussion about dialling the Stargate again in a few minutes, hopeful that the Queen's ship was destroyed, and that Lantesh's ship ringed the Stargate aboard and then it went into hyperspace before releasing it, and then returning. The Colonel pulled back and then put her hands on both Daniel and Tara's cheeks, saying that she missed them so much.

"We missed you too, Sam," said Daniel as Tara saw Xander hug Willow, and then OZ before going on to Buffy. It was then, once the Scoobies had hugged each other, both Buffy and Willow looked at Tara. The blonde witch saw Willow place her hand over her mouth while Daniel and Colonel Carter looked at Tara's reaction. The blonde teared up a little before closing her eyes as Colonel Carter placed a hand on Tara's back.

"You okay?" asked Daniel as he looked at Tara.

"She looks so much like her," said Tara as she watched Dawn hold on to both Buffy and Tara's arms before walking with them towards her.

"Colonel Carter," said Teal'c as he turned towards the distance, as did the others when there was a roar. Teal'c raised his staff weapon, while Buffy and the others got ready for a fight.

"Stand down," said Colonel Carter as she lifted her arm up as two beings appeared out of thin air in front of the large group, a man and a woman who seemed to have plants sprouting from their heads, "stand down."

"Dr. Jackson, Dr. Maclay," said the woman as she bowed her head towards them.

"Lya, Anteaus," said Tara as she walked towards them with Daniel, while the others watched, "hello again."

"Lya and Anteaus of the Nox," said Daniel as he motioned towards the Colonel, and then Teal'c, "I'd like to introduce you to Lt. Colonel Samantha Carter of the Tau'ri, she's inhabited by the Tok'ra known as Egeria."

"The Queen of the Tok'ra," said Anteaus as he bowed his head, as did Lya before looking up at the Colonel who closed her eyes, and let Egeria take control.

"Lya and Anteaus of the Nox," said Egeria, "I am Egeria; I have my host's memories of meeting you in her timeline, but meeting you in person is indeed an honour."

"We have heard much about your host, Queen Egeria," said Lya as Anteaus walked towards Teal'c.

"This is Teal'c of Chulak," said Tara.

"Do you really wish to go up against the Goa'uld, Jaffa?" asked Lya.

"I do," said Teal'c as he looked at Tara, Daniel, and Colonel Carter before looking at Lya again, "the Tau'ri are the hope I have been searching for, a hope that my people could be freed from the grip of the Goa'uld."

"Then the Tau'ri would be able to aid you in your quest for freedom, Teal'c," said Anteaus before turning to Daniel, "I see you have reunited some of your team, Dr. Jackson."

"We still lost the others," said Daniel.

And it was something that Buffy heard as the Scoobies walked towards Tara and the others. But the only person that she and Willow was looking at was the short haired blonde, that same blond whose death nearly made Willow destroy the world. Buffy remembered being out of it on the ship when she was rescued, she had thought that the person who rescued her looked just like Tara… she didn't even believe it when Daniel had called her 'Tara' but now, as she walked closer to the blonde…. Buffy could see that she really was Tara, albeit a bit older.

"Tara?" asked Buffy as her voice broke.

Tara looked at Buffy and remembered Daniel telling her about the brave Slayer and Jaffa fighting the Jaffa invaders into the camp before they were shot by death gliders. And now, she was looking at the duplicate of the young woman she knew… she remembered how happy Buffy was the day she had Angel's soul anchored to hers so that they could marry.

"T…. Tara?" asked Willow as she reached out with a trembling hand and touched Tara's hand. It was that moment of contact that made Tara flinch back while she looked into Willow's eyes. Tara remembered the smile she gave the redhead back on the ship, but now that they were face to face, all she could see was her placing a glamour on Willow's dead body five thousand years ago to hide her body from the Jaffa… she remembered the Jaffa shooting at the body in anger, before beheading it. Tara had watched everything that fateful day while Daniel held on to her shoulder from behind a sand dune. She remembered the glamour vanishing after the beheading. Tara could hear the angry screams of the Jaffa saying how could they have made such a mistake. That if the body was intact, they could have revived it from death. But now that the head was cut off, the only thing they could do was put it next to Buffy, Colonel O'Neill's, and Teal'c's heads, as a reminder of what happens if anyone dared to go against Ra again.

Tara remembered all of that as she took a step back from Willow who looked at her confused. As did Buffy. She was about to say something when Dawn put a hand to Buffy's shoulder, and shook her head. Dawn remembered Tara told them what she did to protect Willow's body from being found by the Jaffa who had invaded the camp, and she guessed that the witch still hadn't gotten over it.

And that was true; Tara thought she could handle seeing Willow alive.

But she couldn't.

Not yet.

"I'm sorry, Willow," said Tara softly as she turned and walked towards the Colonel while wiping her eyes. Willow saw Tara's shoulders tremble before Colonel Carter hugged the blonde; which was when Buffy and Willow turned to Daniel. Dawn told him that she didn't tell them who they really were, so Daniel told the stunned Slayer and Red Witch who they really were; people form an alternate timeline.

"An… an alternate timeline," said Willow as she shook her head, "but that would mean you went back in time and…"

"We did," said Daniel, "all to get a source of power to protect the planet, we did… and changed history. What happened is a story that you'll be briefed on later after this whole mess is over, but you and Buffy, and the others will be able to see proof of it."

"There's proof?" asked Buffy as Daniel nodded before he looked at Willow, before shaking his head.

"I saw you die, Willow," said Daniel as Willow's eyes went wide open before looking at Buffy, "I saw you die too, Buffy. My friend back there? Teal'c? He died too. We were part of a team that explored the galaxy and… and we went on a lot of adventures. The both of you were Captains in the Air Force, I knew your alternates really well and… and seeing you two again is…. Is amazing. Seeing Teal'c again is amazing.. knowing that the three of you are alive in this timeline is… I've never been happier."

"Then why isn't Tara… I mean I know I'm not her Willow but…." said Willow as her voice was about to break while she had tears in her eyes as Daniel put a hand on her shoulder, and at the same time Buffy looked past him at Tara who was now facing Colonel Carter who was talking to her, and then at Lya and Anteaus who approached them.

"She has her reasons, Willow," said Daniel gently, "give her some time to tell you why she acted the way she did. It's not my place to say."

"Dr. Jackson, Queen Egeria, Dr. Maclay," said Teal'c, "it is time."

"Doctor?" asked Willow.

"Another thing I can tell you," said Daniel as he looked at Tara, "she's got a doctorate in Anthropology."

"Oh," said Willow as she watched Tara wipe her eyes while she was handed a necklace from Lya that had two red crystals attached to it. She and Buffy watched as Tara put it on before looking at one another, the blonde Slayer telling Willow that while she was happy beyond words that they had Tara back… even though she wasn't their Tara.

"Take it one day at a time, Will," said Buffy as she smiled at Willow, "get to know her again."

Willow just nodded her head while Dawn was talking to the others, asking them softly not to tell Buffy about Edina, at least not yet.

"Once we've taken care of Anubis," said Dawn looking at Oz, "we'll get to Bay and Kelden, Oz."

"I know," said Oz.

"Egeria," said Dawn as she walked towards the Queen, "ready?"

"Lya," said Egeria looking at the Nox woman who nodded her head, "we are ready."

"Farewell, may you return soon," said Lya as she waved her hand, and the Stargate activated without the familiar unstable vortex.

**Atlantis, a hundred miles away from the Statue of Liberty.**

Willow and Buffy held onto Dawn as the three of them walked through the event horizon after Dawn had identified herself using Colonel Carter's subspace radio. It was as if they were walking through into another room with Willow and Buffy looking around them at the high walls, and then at the staircase and the people who were running around at the second floor.

"Buffy, Willow," said Giles as he ran down the stairs accompanied by two Lanteans who had the same type of weapons that Willow had seen Dawn use on the Wraith ship earlier, "you're all well?"

"Hi," said Buffy and Willow waving at Giles before they looked behind them at the Stargate disengaging, and then at Dawn who placed a hand on both their shoulder.

"Buff, Willow," said Dawn, "welcome to Atlantis."

"It's beautiful," said Buffy as she looked around as the two Lanteans surrounded Dawn.

"High Councillor Hera," said one of them, "welcome back and… Athena?"

"Hello," said Willow as she nervously waved at the two Lanteans who were looking at her. Willow then looked nervously at Dawn, the brunette telling Willow and told her that she needed to explain some things.

"And High Councillor Hera?" asked Buffy with an eyebrow raised.

"Long story," said Dawn with a grin before looking at the two Lanteans, "report."

"Long range sensors show a fleet of eighty ships travelling in hyperspace," said one of the Lanteans as Colonel Carter, Tara, and Daniel walked up to them, along with Teal'c.

"That is the full fleet of Anubis," said Teal'c as Egeria nodded her head.

"He'll want to exterminate the Tau'ri," said Egeria before going onto explain to the confused Buffy and Willow what that word meant. Before the two of them could ask any questions, Dawn asked how long it would be before the fleet reached Earth.

"Two minutes," said one of the Lanteans.

"And the crystal issue?" asked Dawn, "how far are we?"

"It would take another three minutes," said the second Lantean, "and we have a fleet of sixteen Asgard vessels that are on the way here through Hyperspace. Supreme Commander Thor has already confirmed as much."

"Queen Egeria," said Dawn, "you and Colonel Carter have had much more experience in this than me, do you mind…"

Egeria transferred control to Colonel Carter who then explained what Anubis' tactic was when he attacked in her timeline. She talked about how a few ships entered Earth orbit to test their defences, destroying an entire fleet of Navy ships in the process. When they realized that they didn't have advanced technology, the rest of Anubis' fleet came into Earth orbit.

"By then we arrived over the outpost in the Antarctic from Proclarush Taonas," said Daniel as Dawn nodded her head, "and then the attack started, and then Willow used the weapons platform to destroy his fleet."

"He could try the same thing here," said Colonel Cater, "but I think he'll want to use overwhelming force against the Wraith. It's possible her doesn't know that we haven't beat them since he'll want his entire fleet with him."

"He's a half ascended being," said Tara as she looked at everyone, and then lingered for a little while as she and Willow looked at each other, before she looked at the others, "he.. he has the knowledge of Ancient technology… enough to rule the galaxy."

"His ships have been enhanced using Ancient knowledge," said Colonel Carter, "which is why I've asked my ships to harvest fourteen ZPM for their weapons and shielding."

"Dr. Jackson said that you and.. and your Willow worked with Ancient… well, Lantean technology," said Dawn as the Colonel nodded her head.

"Yes," said the Colonel, "as for Anubis, the ships we have up there are the first line of defence. I suggest launching your puddle jumpers, and I'll order my ships to launch their complements of Arrows."

"Arrows?" asked Willow.

"Those small ships we saw in the hanger bay?" asked Tara as the Colonel nodded her head.

"With railguns and Ancient shield technology," said Colonel Carter, "good enough against death gliders, and Al'kesh. Oh, Dawn? I need to talk to Thor… we need a way to contain Anubis' energy form."

"Shall we?" asked Dawn as she motioned towards the control room.

"Yes, lets," said the Colonel.

"Dawnie," said Tara as Dawn turned around, "how much power do you have left in the ZPM's?"

"Power?" asked Dawn.

"Replace the ZPM's with the new ones," said Tara, "and extend the shield to cover as much of the planet as possible."

"If we can hold off Anubis' fleet until the Asgard and the weapons are ready then…" said Dawn as Daniel smirked.

"Bye bye, Anubis," added Daniel as Dawn nodded her head before she turned and ran up the stairs, followed by an excited Buffy running after her sister. While the others all went up to Stargate Operations with Egeria speaking over her radio, ordering that the Arrows be sent to Earth to fight the darts that remained. As the small planes turned to enter the atmosphere, Tara. Who along with Willow, were the only two people near the Gate, excluding the unconscious Amy. The both of them looked at each other, the others heart breaking over their own loss of the women they loved.

"Umm…" said one of the Lanteans who walked down the stairs with two more people, "what shall we do about the woman who is on the floor."

"You have a prison?" asked Tara as the Lanteans nodded their head before telling her that the prison they had used shields to hold their prisoners at bay, "place her in there. I'm not sure if you'll be able to do this, but use a rotating ultrasonic frequency when you place her within the shield. That's would nullify her powers, or if you have nothing like that… lock the door behind you and make sure that there is no one in the room with her."

"Understood," said the male Lantean as he nodded his head at the one next to him. Tara and Willow watched them carry Amy away, before the two women looked each other again.

"You found a way to nullify being a witch?" asked Willow confused.

"You did… I mean the Willow I knew," said Tara, "she had abilities that she was afraid would fall into the wrong hands. So she made something that would stop her, but the ultrasonics also stopped my magic use."

"Oh," replied Willow with her eyes wide open in surprise, "so… um… I know dr. Jackson said something about you telling me something later and… and… I was wondering if you'd just like to sit with me and talk after this is over and… and.. I mean…"

"Willow," said Tara as she stepped forward, "I thought I could handle everything but when I saw you again on Gaia… I… I flashed back to my Willow. She… she was my wife."

"Oh," exclaimed Willow while hearing a buzzing sound in the distance and she and Tara just looked at each other. She could have sworn that she heard Dawn shouting that Anubis was already in orbit and had immediately started fire on the ships above, and on the Atlantis shield which was now expanding to cover the majority of the planet. All the while that was happening, Willow and Tara just looked at each other…. The redhead being unable o believe that the alternate version of her was married to Tara; although it did answer her question as to why Tara was so nervous… more than the one she had known anyway, back on Gaia.

They were married.

"Willow!" shouted Buffy as Willow tore her eyes off the older Tara in front of her, and looked up at Buffy, "you gotta see this. It's like Star Wars and Star Trek up there."

"What is this… Star Wars you speak of?" asked Teal'c.

"Oh, we're going to reintroduce you to what Jack called the greatest trilogy in all of creation," said Daniel with a grin before they looked at the screen where the Asgard vessels had fallen out of Hyperspace and were attacking Anubis' ships together with the Tok'ra, and the Tria. It wouldn't be long before the two of the final three silos of drones fired, the group in Stargate Operations watching as the yellow drones ripped apart the Goa'uld vessels. Only once the Belisknir scanned the debris for Anubis' essence, and then stored it in an energy container did Egeria and Dawn release sighs of relief while Daniel hugged Tara.

They had beaten Anubis, again.

It was Lantesh, Helia, and the Thor who confirmed that the threat to Earth was over, for now. Leading to cheers in Stargate Operations as Dawn grinned and shook Egeria's hand, who then went on to hug both Tara and Daniel; with Tara looking at Willow who was hugging Xander, and then Spike while Xander hugged Dawn. She then saw the brunette grab the back of Xander's head and kiss him deeply before parting ways.

Tara released a cough as she, Colonel Carter, and Daniel looked at Dawn and then at Willow. Before looking back at Dawn again.

"Ummm… Dawn?" asked Tara.

"Xander and I are kinda together and…"

"Too much info," said Tara with a smile, "umm…. Dawnie, you might have something you wanna show Willow and Buffy before it gets even too hectic over here?"

"Oh, right," said Dawn before turning to Xander, and then calling Buffy, and the others while running down the stairs at the side of the Operations Room. She then looked at Egeria who had already transferred control to Colonel Carter, and asked her if she could take over while she showed Buffy and Willow something.

"Sure," said the Colonel who then asked Daniel and Tara to work with the Lantean and get communications back up with the White House, that she needed to talk to the President. She then asked the Lantean and the Tok'ra vessels in orbit to scan the surface for battles... they were to help the Arrows with the destruction of Darts, and to help any battles against demons that may have decided to take advantage with the situation. Thor then contacted the Colonel saying that the Asgard would help to rebuild Earth, but that they needed to take to the Earth leadership before anything could be started. The Colonel agreed, but said that it would also have to be Dawn's decision as well… she asked that in the meantime, the Asgard scan for non-human shapes that were moving, and then beam them into space.

In the meantime, Dawn was running though different corridors of Atlantis while pulling Xander behind her. The other Scoobies, minus Tara, ran behind them until they ran into a small room that had a pedestal in the middle of the room, as well as a console where Dawn stepped up to and waved her hand over the console. The Scoobies saw the console and the room light up while explaining that she had a special gene that made activating the console possible.

"There's something I wanna show you guys," said Dawn before she looked at Spike, "I'm guessing Spike already knows about this…"

"Just an inkling, pet," said Spike while Dawn nodded her head.

"Buffy," said Dawn, "whatever you're gonna see and hear now, I am your sister. No matter what, I am your sister."

"Yeah," said Buffy confused as Dawn pressed a button, and the holographic image of a bald man appeared on the pedestal.

"I was born on Atlantis," said Dawn as she looked at the man, "this is my father, Moros. He was the last High Councillor of the City before then exodus to Earth. He was kind, strong, he loved us all… I got to see him again after he ascended. I was there the day he descended back to Earth so that he could build a weapon to battle an enemy that he knew would eventually come after us… the Ori. He descended with all his powers and knowledge intact.. the most powerful man on Earth; Myrddin.

"Dawn?" asked Giles as he took off his glasses, "did you just say…"

"Merlin?" asked Willow, "your father was Merlin the Magician?"

"For a little while until he was forced into stasis," said Dawn as she looked at her father, and then pressed another button that showed a red-haired woman in a white and gold dress. Buffy and Willow could tell it was the same woman who they had seen back in the hallway in San Francisco, the one who was about to get them out but was pulled back away somehow.

"My mother, Melina," said Dawn, "she died after I was born."

"Sorry, Dawnie," said Buffy as she walked forward and squeezed her sister's shoulder. She then saw Dawn press another button that revealed a slightly older version of Dawn. And then came the final image, an image that made everyone do a double take, even Spike, at Willow who was looking at the image with her mouth wide open stunned. Willow had heard the Wraith queen calling her Athena, she heard some of the Lanteans calling her Athena… but until she saw the image of the Lantean before her.. she never realized how similar they looked. It was eerie.

"And this is my sister," said Dawn as she looked at the hologram of the young woman with red hair standing on the pedestal, "Athena Ren."

"Oh," whispered Willow as Buffy and the others looked at her, and then at the hologram.

Hours after showing Willow the hologram of her sister, Dawn welcomed President Hayes to Atlantis, along with Kennedy, Angel, and the others after they were beamed all the way to Atlantis by the Tria. It was a few minutes later that Dawn had the Jumpers on Atlantis spread out into the world to help the remaining Slayers who were still fighting battles, and she also had the aid of the Asgard.

It would be months later that Dawn, the current leader of Atlantis, held talks with President Hayes, and the leaders of the major nations which had also started to rebuild; China, Russia, the U.K, and several others met on Atlantis. They were going to talk about the new situation that they had found themselves in; the existence of aliens, and the open existence of the supernatural. Dawn was joined by Daniel, who Tara had told the brunette was the one she needed to have by her side as an advisor, and Egeria, who was there on behalf of the Tok'ra to begin building an alliance; while also including Buffy, and Giles representing the issues with the supernatural… and to answer questions that the leaders may have. Thor was there as well, as was Helia.

While the meeting was going on, Tara and Willow started to get closer and closer. When an alliance between humanity, the Tok'ra, and the Asgard was in the tentative stage in the sixth month of a newly peaceful Earth… Tara and Willow shared their first kiss on the balcony in Tara's quarters on Atlantis. The greatest surprise was saved for Buffy; meeting her mother again… Willow, Tara, Xander, and Dawn remembered the screams of joy from the older blonde, and the blonde Slayer as they hugged each other.

It would be a year later that an agreement between the major powers was drafted, and the new site of the SGC was selected. The Stargate from the Antarctic was brought over to Cheyenne mountain, where Tara and Daniel helped the newly installed leader of the base, General George Hammond, select the first team that would head through the Stargate.

Their first mission, the mission of the new SG-1 which included Teal'c, Tara, and Daniel, went to Abydos where they met with Egeria. The people, who had been under Ra, hated the Goa'uld.. but loved his queen.

And Egeria was a benevolent queen who gave them as much freedom as possible. She even taught them language and writing, much to Daniel and Tara's surprise. Taking over from Colonel Carter, Egeria told them that she had to spread the written word in several hidden places of learning so that Ra would never find out. While they were walking through a village, Egeria handed control back to Colonel Carter, who placed her arm on her friend's shoulder and point to a opening in a tent. Opening his eyes wide at the woman in the tent who was speaking to an older man, Daniel whispered one word.

"Sha're."

"It's her, Daniel," whispered the Colonel, "I have been watching her grow up, and I've been telling her stories of a nervous, but lovable man, who could drop by one day and take her away to see the stars. Those were just stories, I never realized you were alive; but anyway, every guy that approached her? She turned them away."

"Sam?" asked Daniel.

"Go to her, Daniel," Tara gently pushed the man forward while the two new members of SG-1, a Colonel by the name of Cameron Mitchell, and a Major by the name of Louise Ferretti, was walking around the village with wonder in their eyes; they were on another planet.

Tara and Colonel Carter watched at Daniel approached the tent opening, watching him leaning forward, and then smiled at the warm smile that spread on Sha're's face. It was six months later that Daniel and Sha're were married on Abydos again, and this time… Daniel still remained a part of SG-1. With the war against the Goa'uld in full swing, Earth was now target… but the presence of the weapons platforms were a powerful deterrent to any attack.

It was soon, however, that politics took over with many nations demanding further access to Atlantis' technology. So that there would be no war over the City of the Ancients, Dawn informed the newly reformed United Nations that the City of Atlantis would be relocating to another planet. And with Wolfram and Hart breathing down the necks of many politicians, Dawn knew that this was the only way to prevent Ancient technology from enter their demonic hands.

So, it was two years after the destruction of the Wraith and Anubis' fleet over Earth, that Atlantis took off again. This time, the city-ship was taken to Edina, where it landed safety in the ocean with an agreement with the SGC on Earth that it would be used as their first Alpha Site. This didn't mean that Buffy and Dawn never saw each other; the blonde Slayer was leading the new International Organization for the Research of Paranormal Events with Angel; and she would occasionally go through the Stargate to visit her sister and mother. It would be on Edina with Joyce and her new family, that Buffy would eventually marry Angel… with Willow binding their souls together so that Angel wouldn't lose his. Then after getting to know this new Willow, who finally accepted that she could be the descended Athena, and dating her for three years, Tara and she were married on Atlantis with Dawn presiding over the ceremony on the East pier, as the sun was setting over the horizon.

And war raged as the humans, Tok'ra, and the Asgard… who were cured from their genetic disease, pushed back the Goa'uld until there were only a handful left; scattered. The Jaffa finally had their freedom again as Daniel and Tara looked on from Dakara after it was freed from Goa'uld control; the final battle of the war.

With Atlantis on Edina, and the SGC on Earth, and with the help of the Tok'ra under Egeria, and the Asgard… there was relative peace in the Milky Way. There were still occasional problems with the Goa'uld, and the Lucien Alliance; but there was peace. However, there was another evil that was stirring at the edge of the galaxy.

An ancient enemy was awakening; an enemy that the Ancients had long thought dead and buried. The very first enemy of the Alterra when they arrived in the Milky Way, a great evil they had waged a war with for twenty years… a war that was wiped away from the Alterran history books because they never wanted their descendants to know what they did… the blood that they had on their hands in a mass killing. After wiping out this enemy using the superweapon that they created on Dakara, the Alterra built up their new civilization in the Milky Way.

The Alterra flourished. And the Milky Way was theirs for millions of years until the plague, and then there was the exodus to Pegasus. The Alterra used the superweapon again to destroy all life to stop the plague, and then it was used again to restart life in the galaxy. All the while, remnants of this enemy lay dormant where they could never be touched.

But now, they sensed that something in the galaxy was changing.

The Nocturna were awakening, and they were going to grow in the millions.

And they hungered for revenge.

The End.

 


End file.
